Thoughts from Pastor Don Filcek.
Can we assume that Eve was the first woman? She was certainly the first female. But is the word “woman” merely reserved for a gendered cultural expression that can only be defined based on social constructs? I assume that cultural expressions were quite limited being that just her and Adam existed AND that the fashion…
I am preaching the very difficult passage of 2 Samuel 11 this week. David and Bathsheba is a super shocking passage in context. Everything is going great in David’s life and then *WHAM* he’s raping one of his soldier’s wives and murdering her husband as a cover up! And the text is starkly unemotional about…
I have never been a huge fan of a major distinction between clergy and laity, pastor and parishioner, shepherd and sheep. There are certainly responsibilities I have by virtue of my occupation. And I certainly believe that I will give a certain type of higher accounting for my calling before God as a teacher and…
I have baptism on my mind, because we will be having a baptism service on Sunday immediately following our 10:30 service. I love baptisms! I love what they mean for the body of believers. We get the privilege of hearing about the way that God brought a person to faith and trust in Jesus Christ.…
I wrote a sermon this week on 2 Samuel 6:16-23. In this passage, King David of Israel is bringing the ark of the covenant up into Jerusalem effectively moving the center of Jewish worship to that city for the first time. And he is dancing and leaping and shouting praises to God while dressed down…
I was told by someone that the most important thing about me is what I think about when I think about God. Since I am a man with the convictions that there is indeed an Almighty Creator, this rings true to me. Anyone who claims to a be a person of faith in God is…
As I went to bed last night I was picking up on the nightly news that invasion was underway in Ukraine. When I woke up I watched a segment on CNN that troubled my heart. The newscaster stood at the side of a large screen map of Ukraine. It was a high tech affair. He…
I was working my way through the World Magazine as our flight descended into Grand Rapids from Florida. The magazine was the end of the year edition that hit the highlights of 2021 which proved to have its share of low points. And then I saw her . . . And I keep seeing her.…