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Pastor's Corner - Daniel Griswold

  • This year, try adding rather than subtracting for Lent
    Growing up, I didn't even know about Lent. The Pentecostal congregational style of discipleship was based on a few things: the Bible, prayers (public and private) and the work of the Holy Spirit (healings, prophecy, fillings, etc.).
  • God can be trusted even during hard times
    'Book of Eli" is a gritty film, set in a post-apocalyptic world full of brutal scavengers, cannibals and ruthless leaders. The main character, played by Denzel Washington, is named Eli. He's a rare literate person and appears at the very beginning to be carrying a precious book.
  • People of earth are God's Black Friday treasures
    For Thanksgiving, my wife and I like to spend time with family. We recently flew up to New England and stayed in my parents' home. My two sisters still live in the beautiful log cabin, and my brother from Burlington drove up to eat as much turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce as our stomachs could handle. I enjoy being a son, with my dad at the head of the table as he prays a blessing over our meal.
  • Where did Steve Jobs get his creativity, ambition?
    When it was announced that Steve Jobs passed away from pancreatic cancer, I was stunned. I first started using computers in elementary school -- Apple computers. All students were required to learn how to code in commands to a little pixilated green turtle. We made it move on the screen, caused it to draw lines and had some fun making patterns. It was good, simple fun, and we learned how to enter the digital age when it was in its infancy.
  • Finding faith through others' stories of struggle
    No matter how many times I promise myself that I will not look into the comments section on religious articles, I always end up meandering down to those nether-regions for a look, though it is more like a journey.
  • Genuine love of others a key ingredient to stronger communities
    Why do we love and care for others? Some would say that love is just part of the process of evolution: Someone once killed his neighbor, and because others did not want to be killed as well, they banded together and punished the murderer. People saw this punishment and deduced that killing is wrong and that the tribe is a stronger unit when people look out for each other.
  • Lessons to learn from sports-star role models
    Sports cards and candy at the Nutfield General Store were cheap and easy to accumulate when I was 20 years younger. Mainly, because I was a shrewd young businessman -- often negotiating how many Jolly Ranchers or Topps baseball cards I could buy in exchange for 20 or so minutes of labor.
  • With hearts open to God, all the world becomes holy
    Our church, when seen as a building, is beautiful. It matches the palmetto, pine and live oak forests of the area well. Great brown beams hold a beautiful light-filled glass and tan stucco structure together. Within, the pews are well maintained, the altar is highlighted by a beautifully done stained glass cross with Scripture and depictions of Christ adorning it. A few hundred people come each Sunday to experience the presence of God surrounded by a space that is holy to many. Certainly it was built with holy ground in mind, so for the worshipper who meets God there, the architect succeeds in his or her vision.
  • Stop stressing: Leave the big picture to God
    Sometimes seeing the big picture is hard. I once heard a story, and I will tell it how I remember it, about a newly married woman. Her husband made enough money so she felt blessed that she would be able to be at the home to keep up the house, take care of future children, cook meals and do the day-to-day business of the family.
  • 'Extreme Makeover' builds more than a house
    Few things get entire communities excited these days -- but the television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has a way of blowing into a neighborhood like a fresh wind.
  • Humans are capable of great good
    The irony of American culture is that while we try to practice the art of hospitality, we are confronted by many stories of the opposite.
  • Sometimes the world needs a reminder there's good news
    Some countries get a lot of news coverage: Russia, China, England, Australia and Canada, to name a few of the major ones. But Chile? I hadn't thought much about that nation until recently when news media began focusing on what seemed to be just another run-of-the-mill mining tragedy. A mine had collapsed and rescuers were frantically searching for survivors. It wasn't until it was discovered that miners had, in fact, survived the collapse and were trapped deep below the surface that it became a different story.