Scott Hoezee

A high school classmate of mine died last week.   Now that my classmates and I have entered our mid-50s, the death of a peer, though still upsetting, maybe has a little less shock value than a couple of people who…

Originally published in 2105, here is Scott's take for the Tuesday of Holy Week. Palm/Passion Sunday kicks off Holy Week every year but mostly we don't ponder much about what was going on with Jesus until we get to the…

            One of the more formative experiences of my life came when as a college student I was able to visit socialist East Germany some years before the Berlin Wall fell.  A key relationship that resulted from my time in…

Last week at a colloquium I attended, a colleague of mine originally from Mexico was describing my seminary’s highly successful certificate program designed to provide needed education and training to Latino/a pastors in our area.   The program has been up…

If you have been involved in most any aspect of ministry in the church, then sooner or later you confront some tough realities. Probably pastors experience this more often--and perhaps more intensely--than do others in church leadership but sooner or…

State of Our Union Tonight the President will deliver the delayed State of the Union speech to Congress.  Its every word will be analyzed.   Pundits will tote up the number of times the speech was interrupted by applause, how many…

After a long hiatus of anything resembling Winter, here in Michigan we have been back in the deep freeze the last few days with a blanket of snow finally covering up all those leaves we never raked last Fall (and…

A couple of months ago at a conference I was privileged to hear former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.  The conference was aimed chiefly at preachers and teachers of preaching and so in one of his lectures, Williams had a…

In the second year of the presidency of Donald Trump, while Mike Pence was vice-president and while Theresa May led England and Justin Trudeau led Canada and while Vladimir Putin ruled Russia and Mohammed bin Salman dominated Saudi Arabia; while…

Two weeks ago I did a short blog here as part of our annual fundraiser (and thank you to all who chipped in!).   In it I described “The Reformed Journal” and “The Twelve” as an important place to discuss ideas…