On Good Friday, April 19, 2019, our church choir presented an Easter cantata. Following the performance, as I was congratulating our worship pastor, Nathan Parker, I mentioned that it would be cool if we could find a musical that would allow us to utilize both the choir and the worship team in the future. Without missing a beat, Nathan looked at me and said, “We should write a Christmas cantata.”...
Of all the Christmas decorations that adorn shelves, tables, and lawns, few are as saturated with meaning as a Nativity Scene. It a visual reminder of the true reason for the season and one need not go far to find one. Just this morning I have seen no less than a dozen representations of the nativity. As I sit here in my office, there are three in my immediate field of vision. All of them...
If you take a drive around Seymour, Indiana, the signs of the season are starting to show. Men and women across this small town have made the trek into the inner recesses of their attics, garages, and various other storage areas to retrieve their holiday decorations so that they can begin the process of preparing for the coming festivities. The most wonderful time of the year is almost here! The...
One of my first jobs was working at a wood shop owned by my Grandfather. Because I only worked during school breaks, there was very little skilled work for me to do. Most of my time was spent sitting at the end of a conveyor belt stacking freshly painted pieces, or standing at the back of a saw or molder stacking freshly cut wood. Most of these jobs were dependent upon another employee who could...
“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” We have all, undoubtedly, heard, and likely used, this famous phrase at some point in our lives. It is, in my personal estimation, an indisputable truth. Failure is a definitive feature of the human experience. As hard as we may try, and as much as we might want to deny the truth, all of us make mistakes. We knowingly and unknowingly break rules and fail to...
When one thinks of the church, a wide range of thoughts and pictures probably flood the mind. Somewhere early in that deluge is probably the image of an actual church building. Perhaps it was the church you or a beloved family member attended when you were growing up. Maybe it was the location where an important, life-shaping event took place. Or, it could be that it was or is just a prominent...
You may not be familiar with the term leitmotif, but you are undoubtedly familiar with many of them. If you’ve watched any movies or television shows in the last 30 years, you’ve heard more than a few leitmotifs and probably have some personal favorites. A leitmotif is a short, repeating musical phrase associated with a person, setting, emotion, or theme. We might simply think of them as theme...
Jesus was a bit of a people watcher. There are several examples of Jesus observing the attitudes and actions of the people of His day available to us throughout the gospels. Several immediately come to mind, but one story in particular has always been extremely challenging to me. The story is known as The Widow’s Offering. It can be found in the gospels of Luke and Mark. Here is the telling of...
At what age do we begin to observe and understand the concepts of wealth and poverty? I’m not referring to the deep, philosophical concepts and systems surrounding these two polar twins; I’m talking about the basic observation that one’s own family is either rich or poor. Thinking back over the years of my own life, I had no idea whether my family was rich or poor when I was in preschool and...
When I was 17-years-old, I found myself on the wrong side of the law. As per usual, I was running a smidge late for school and my forward momentum was just north of the posted speed limit. Still, I was utterly shocked that the officer decided to pull me over on that fine morning rather than any number of my fellow commuters that were proceeding with equal or greater velocity. I remembered my...
Jeremy Myers is the Lead Pastor of First Baptist Church of Seymour, Indiana, where he has served since 2017. He has over 20 years of ministry experience in the local church and not-for-profit work. He has a passion for helping emerging and existing generations learn to make space for each other and caring for the under-served and marginalized. In 2016, he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Palmer Theological Seminary, with his thesis focusing on helping youth and senior adults develop deeper relationships. He is a passionate and gifted communicator and is regularly invited to speak at retreats, camps, conferences, and other events. He lives in Seymour, Indiana with his wife Robyn, their two children, Mikayla and JJ, and their Golden Doodle, Evie.
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