PROLEGOMENA: Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Sunday, June 3, 2007



I like to prepare us for worship this evening by talking a little about love. Now, would it seem odd to you if I told you that my daughter Hannah--who’s only three years old--knows something about love, that you and I have either forgotten or never learned? I mean, if I were to ask you, how much does your husband or wife, or boyfriend or girlfriend, or your mom and dad love you, how would you answer? You’d probably answer like this: “They love me very much;” or “They love me a lot;” or “They love me a great deal;” or you might even say, “They love me with all my heart.” But my daughter Hannah tells me that she loves me “As big as the stars.”

Now, what’s interesting about her answer is that she attaches a spatial significance to love. In other words, she understands the stars as infinitely removed from us here on earth. And the space between us and them, is the amount of love she has for me.

Now, to you or I that may sound a little silly and 3 year-old-ish, but let me suggest that Hannah’s description of love is very similar to the apostle Paul’s.

In Ephesians 3 Paul describes the love of Christ in this way: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”

So, are you ready to worship the God who loves you, to quote my daughter Hannah, “As big as the stars?” Welcome to worship!

PROLEGOMENA: Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Sunday, May 20, 2007


A few weeks ago, in the magazine section of the New York Times, there was an article entitled: “Reinventing Middle Age.” Now, the article attempted to show how Americans, especially New Yorkers, fear the inevitable--we fear growing old. And if we fear growing old, then it logically follows that we fear death.

Now, the writer drove this point home to me when she said this: “For one thing reality has hit me in the eyebrows where I first started going gray some years ago and where I keep going grayer underneath renewed coatings of eyebrow tint.”

You see, what the writer made clear to me was this: We’ll do anything to avoid the inevitable; we’ll do anything to avoid the downward spiral of this life. We're all guilty of this at some level--every one of us.

Yet, we’ll disagree with that when we sing the first line of the opening hymn which reads, “A mighty fortress is our God a bulwark never failing. Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills, prevailing!”

You see, the God we come to worship this morning; the God we come to sing praises to, has given us hope beyond our graying hair. And that happened the moment Jesus stepped out of the tomb. So, are you ready to worship the God who gives us hope beyond death this morning? Welcome to worship!

Redeemer Presbyterian Church
PROLEGOMENA: Sunday, March 11, 2007


As some of you may already know, today is the third Sunday of Lent, which, by the way, is 40 day period that Christians prepare themselves to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, many churches around the world this morning will be reading from Psalm 63--the liturgical reading of the day. So, I thought I’d take the liberty to join Redeemer’s voice in with the voice of the global church. Verse 3 of Psalm 63 reads: “Because your love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”

Now, I don’t think David was completely aware of the hint we got from him when he penned this psalm, because to talk about God’s love is to always have Good Friday in view--the day that Jesus died. And it's John who helps makes sense of this for us when he says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” You see, according to John’s statement, to understand what love is, is to bring Good Friday into sharp focus in your mind’s eye. So, are you ready to praise God this morning because of the picture of love we get when we focus in on the three dark hours of that one Friday two, or so, millenia ago? Welcome to worship!

"At the Beginning" of Each Week...



As the title of this post hints at, I have decided, after being encouraged by my colleague Mark Robinson, who blogs under Post Cogito, that I will begin to make available, every Monday, "At the Beginning of Each Week," the reflection that I use to open up the worship service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. (How's that for a sentence that competes with Paul's in Ephesians 1.)

Therefore, for those interested, you can begin lurking on Mondays for my "worship reflections" or check back at your leisure under the topic heading, PROLEGOMENA--a fitting heading for the opening words of a Redeemer Presbyterian Church worship service.

(And for you Hebrew scholars out there: as you can see, I took the liberty of translating the preposition bet in bereshit as "at." A fine way to render it in my book!)