First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso

A heartfelt hug from a loved one, an ear-to-ear smile not hidden by a mask, reminiscing with beloved family members over home-made pancakes and real maple syrup, singing a favorite hymn in community with your friends and neighbors at an in-person worship service; all of these are such simple moments but as we continue to emerge from a shared experience none of us will ever forget, the joy of the simple things we may once have taken for granted seems so real, so palpable that

I have a file folder titled ‘things to keep’. Pretty general. I was looking in it for an old photo and instead found an old essay (so old it was written on a typewriter!). It is wrinkled and edged with coffee stains. There is no indication of where it came from or who wrote it, but I found it so interesting that I will share some of it with you, edited and condensed. It is based on one of my favorite Bible passages Isaiah 40.31. They that wait upon the Lord will renew their

Let’s begin this blog a bit differently than usual. I’d like you to take a moment to think about this question: Who is Jesus for you? When you think about him, what roles does he play in your life? Savior? Friend? Teacher? Something else? Richard Rohr writes, “Your image of God creates you.” In other words, our personal theology is formed by the way in which we see God. If we see God primarily as the judge who determines our eternal fate—heaven or hell—the way in which we liv

Having put the ‘lost year’ of 2020 behind us, we are entering the Summer of 2021 in a much more positive mood. The weather is warming, the pandemic is ebbing (or so it appears) and life is returning to some semblance of what it was before COVID. Being able to be with church friends ‘live & in-person’ …starts my week off (for some it is viewed as the end of the week) the way I prefer it. I hope that more people will begin returning to in-person church services providing a chan