Waxing Theological

6-18-17 (Ordinary 11/Proper 6 A, Semi-Continuous) Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7; Matthew 9:35-10:23 Welcome the Stranger Our kids have a problem with strangers - namely, that they don’t believe in strangers.  To be honest, it’s something that Janis and I have wrestled with, especially as they are starting to get older and doing more things independently.  They rarely hesitate to go up to whoever they see and start talking to them, asking for hugs or to be picked up.  And I’ll be honest, we’ve been incredibly fortunate so far - even if people haven’t been entirely comfortable with the unknown child climbing up into their lap to see better at the football game, we live in a community where people understand that it really does take a village to raise a child, and so they tend to roll with it. It’s a peculiar situation that we don’t really know how to handle as parents - on the one hand, we love that they’re not shy.  It’s great that they are willing to be around people

FPC Vandalia 6-11-17 (Trinity A) Joshua 4:1-9; Matthew 28:16-20 Our Campfire Religion At Presbytery this last Tuesday, we celebrated 20 years of camping ministry at Covenant Point - a part of that celebration involved us having the very first camp director come back to share some of his experiences and of what camp meant to him.  Something he said has stuck with me through the whole rest of the week - so much so that I had to change the texts I was working with a little.  He told the people gathered at worship that morning that Christianity is a campfire religion, a religion of the outdoors - and it dawned on me that while in many ways, this was stating the obvious, it was also a wonderful reminder to be given. We don’t always think about it in this context, but I invite you to picture it: the sun is setting and you’ve gathered with the rest of your tribe to make camp for the evening.  As your father fastens the last of the lines and ensures that the tent is secu