In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived at the Desert of Sinai and camped in front of the mountain. Before God gave them the Ten Words, Moses did a lot of running up and down the…
My father, the Rev. Dr. Jim Petersen, is a retired Christian Reformed Church minister who still has fire in his belly. He is a preacher and an evangelist, yes. But more importantly, he is a lover of the Word and…
Toward the end of "The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkien, Frodo and Sam, on their way to destroy the Ring, take a rest "in a dark crevice between two great piers of rock" on the stairs of Cirith Ungol. As…
I accompany our church choir, and for this year's Christmas morning service we sang a choral version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen": God Rest Ye, arranged by David Chase. In worship planning, I had arranged for "God Rest Ye"…
On these days surrounding the second Sunday of Advent, I wear a chain around my neck. The chain holds the wedding band that used to be worn by my first husband, Layton. He wore it from the day we were…
In August of 2017, I cycled a six day leg of the Sea to Sea – a coast to coast ride, raising awareness and money to fight poverty, locally and globally. On the second to last day of our ride,…
This coming Sunday, I will be preaching the final sermon in a series on the book of Nehemiah. Chapter thirteen is a bit of a downer. After the triumphant dedication of the completed wall in chapter twelve, we get a…
Election Day 2016 was a 27 hour day for me. I spent most of the day in the air and in airports. I was traveling from Kingston, Ontario, through three time zones, to San Diego, California, to speak at the…
What if we had a different kind of conversation? That's what I've been wondering. I watched a good bit of the hearings a couple of Thursdays ago, when Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford and then Supreme Court Justice nominee, Brett Kavanaugh both…
Several members of my congregation are in the midst of a three day training, learning to become facilitators of restorative practices and cultivators of a restorative culture in our church. We are being taught by licensed trainers from the International…
