I am starting a new blog this year entitled Howling in the Desert. I took this title from a manuscript that I started several years ago and never finished. It still sits on my desk under a stack of papers with the thought that someday I will rework the idea and finish it.  The idea of naming the blog “Howling in the Desert” comes from a passage in Matthew 3:3, where the ministry of John the Baptist is described as:

“A voice of one calling in the desert,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’” NIV

I was preparing for a sermon on the above passage and was reading a commentary by Frederick Bruner on the book of Matthew. Frederick Bruner translates the word “calling” as “howling”. Citing Rabanus, Bruner writes people speak loudly for three reasons: when others are distant, deaf or angry – and the human race is all three.[1] I believe this to also be the condition of the church today.

I hope to cover a wide range of topics that will help people flesh out their faith in the earthiness of everyday life. I hope that this blog is not only helpful for those in our congregation but somehow finds it way to those who for whatever reason are estranged from a local body of believers.

Over the past few years, I have noticed a growing dissatisfaction amongst churchgoers.” Something I have noticed over the past few years is that there is a growing dissatisfaction amongst those who attend church. This has led to an increasing number of people leaving traditional expression of the church. The church these people are leaving is often the congregational assembly that constitutes a visible expression of the body of Christ in the local setting.  Some of these people who are dissatisfied and leave these churches then form house churches but most simply stop meeting with believers all together. A few even leave the faith.

The decision these people have made to leave the church, and in many cases to give up on the church, deeply saddens me. There are many reasons cited why people are abandoning the church. Though some of these reasons are understandable and legitimate complaints, the decision to give up on the church is a grave mistake. In the following weeks I hope to explore this thorny and often emotionally charged issue from a biblical perspective. I hope to bring to those who have been hurt by the church a sense of being pastored and cared for. I hope to bring to those who are disappointed and disillusioned with the church a sense of renewed vision and purpose. I am deeply troubled and saddened by those who have become isolated in their faith, and my prayer is that God would draw his people into the sacramental communion with Himself and His people.