A Word About Thanksgiving

Thank you – just two words, but two words that can change the trajectory of a disposition, a conversation, a marriage, or a life. When I reflect a posture of genuine gratitude there’s something that happens, not only in me, but around me. When I am authentically thankful (and folks can tell the difference between authentic thankfulness and its imitation), something happens in the relational equation. In other words, when I express heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for something you’ve said or done, you know it, and I know it.

 

We often forget or we neglect to be thankful. An old Puritan preacher said it like this, "The Lord knows how apt even the best of men are to forget the spring of their mercies."(John Owen). There’s a warning here that thankfulness needs to be cultivated and grown. Even the Apostle Paul made it clear that thanklessness is related to distance and an adversarial relationship to God (Romans 1:21). When it becomes apparent to us and to others, ingratitude ought to set off internal alarm bells that something isn’t quite right. 

 

Expressing gratitude demonstrates an awareness, on our part, for kindness or favor received. To express gratitude acknowledges that someone has intervened for our benefit. A conveyance of thanks is a recognition that someone has gone beyond, and acted for my good. 

 

What is it that sets us apart from other sentient beings? Apart from the obvious, some have said that only man has the capability to think God’s thoughts after Him. I’m also of the opinion that intentional thankfulness separates us from brute beasts. We are those who declare gratitude to God for His manifold kindnesses. We contemplate God’s mercies and then verbalize thankfulness. The character of the Christian ought to be one of pervasive and effusive gratitude. As we consider Divine favor, we simply cannot help it. 

 

In the great work of the gospel, thankfulness is a work of the Spirit of God in the heart of the Christian. In fact, an unthankful Christian is a contradiction in terms. Our thankfulness is to be shared with others, and declared to others, and is to be infectious, as Christ’s word dwells within us. Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians is this, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7) Receiving Christ and walking in him, rooted and established in the faith, is to provoke us to great thanksgiving. 

 

The last Thursday in November we celebrate a national holiday. Dating back to the earliest days of our nation, a day was set aside for the specific purpose of offering thanks. It was to be a corporate and perpetual reminder that gratitude was to be brought to mind and expressed in thanks to God for His favor. Today, it seems almost out of place. There are few extant nations that engage in such practice, and in our current environment national thankfulness seems far from us. Our social media seems to be full of complaint, and often in our own lives there seems a shortage of true thankfulness. And truthfully, Paul’s warning to the Romans sounds too close for comfort.  

 

In a world where this Thanksgiving holiday seems almost incoherent and genuine thankfulness is seldom seen, for the Christian, there is no excuse. Thankfulness is inherent to authentic Christian character. The work of the Spirit in the Christian creates new life that, by its nature, excels in gratitude. 

 

Christian, not just this Thanksgiving, but in all of life, let your thankfulness be made known, not just to God, but to one another. There is much to be grateful for. And, who knows, your thankfulness may just be infectious.  

 

 

         

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves as pastor at Madras Reformed Church, and also with InFaith as a Missionary Pastor in Central Oregon, assisting small and rural churches. He can be reached at danjmorse@icloud.com

The Significance of Hospitality

In the year 2000 Robert Putnam wrote a bestselling book entitled, Bowling Alone. At over 500 pages with footnotes, Putnam makes the argument that American community life is in steep decline. Now over 25 years later Putnam’s contention seems to be unmistakably true. We’ve lost our communal bearings. On every side we seem to be divided. Red vs. blue. Conservative v. progressive. Left v. right. Gay v. straight. Dry rub v. sauce. Pan pizza v. thin crust. Every opportunity to divide exists and we’ll even argue about the best way to prove it. And after last week’s elections, the divisions are starker than ever. 

 

One of my favorite stories is a classic children’s work entitled, The Wind in the Willows. The storybook outlines the exploits of a cadre of unlikely and dissimilar friends. Author Kenneth Grahame introduces us to Mole, Badger, Ratty, Otter, and the inimitable Toad (who happens to be my favorite). The friendships and exasperations between them wax and wane but at the end of the day the comraderies stay intact. Grahame’s portraiture of each is both hilarious and familiar. They are different, peculiar, and comically eccentric. I dare say our own circles of friends likely embody several of each of the Willow’s characters. Their exploits are both mundane and amazing. Their adventures are endearing. At the end of the book, you realize that Grahame has introduced you to new friends, and that for all of their foibles these odd woodland creatures are more like us than not. As it turns out the more time they spend together, the more meals they share, the more they care for one another.  

 

Putnam and Grahame have something to say. There’s always a need for community and there’s only one way to get it. While the present-day winds of division are blowing, community can be had, but never without a price. The Moles, Badgers, Rats, Otters, and Toads of the world can build community and yet it won’t materialize without geniality and fresh apple pie. In fact, warm hospitality and homemade lasagna do wonders to breaking down walls. After all, it’s hard to hold someone at a distance when gathered round a table for a meal together.

 

Of late, hospitality seems to be a lost art form. Busyness, cost, time constraints, suspicion, and a host of other reasons give us scant interest in taking on one more thing. Perhaps for many of us hospitality carries too great of price. We want community, and we want it on our terms and within our limited budget.

 

A number of years ago, Judy and I were determined to meet our rural SW Washington neighbors. She baked loaves of pumpkin bread, and wrapped them in foil and ribbon. We started from our place and ventured outward bearing gifts to unfamiliar neighbors and new, never-met, friends. We had quite young children and a slender pocketbook but we were determined to extend our community by making an effort of meeting our neighbors. I’d love to say it was a smashing success. Truth be known…it was hard and a lot of work, and difficult to see results. We still practice hospitality, and though still hard and a lot of work, now it looks a bit different. In almost 50 years of marriage, we’ve determined that our home be a place of welcome.

 

There is a reason that hospitality carries weight in the Biblical record. There’s something about hospitality that reveals the heart of God Himself. Author Alexander Strauch, in a provocative little book entitled, The Hospitality Commands, says this, “…hospitality is always costly. Through the ministry of hospitality, we share our most prized possessions. We share our family, home, finances, food, privacy, and time. Indeed, we share our very lives. So, hospitality is always costly.” Consider that God’s disposition toward His people is never miserly nor stingy. God is generous and hospitable, and God is glad to pay the cost. In Christ God has thrown open a door of hospitality and welcome to those least likely as guests. It is amazing, really. The gospel is a story of hospitality.

 

May I suggest that as Christian folk we endeavor to break down walls by being hospitable? It may come at a price, but we won’t regret it. Divisions and discord may plague this generation, however, the path to true community begins by kind invitations to our neighbors, to share a meal and a pan of fresh-baked brownies.   

 

         

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves as pastor at Madras Reformed Church, and also with InFaith as a Missionary Pastor in Central Oregon, assisting small and rural churches. He can be reached at danjmorse@icloud.com 

Some Thoughts on the Protestant Reformation

 

Man’s work faileth, Christ’s availeth,
He is all our righteousness;
He, our Savior, has forever
Set us free from dark distress.
Through His merit we inherit
Light and peace and happiness.
- Venantius Fortunatus, c. 530-609

 

“Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.”

- Thesis #37, nailed by Martin Luther on the Castle Church door at Wittenberg, October 10th, 1517

 

"The righteous shall live by faith."

- Romans 1:17b

 

“I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, “the justice of God,” because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore, I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant. Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that ‘the just shall live by his faith.’ Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas the ‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressively sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate of heaven….”

- Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Volume 34, p. 337

509 years ago today, on October 31, 1517, the sound of a hammer could be heard in Wittenberg Germany as an Augustinian monk nailed a piece of parchment to the door at Castle Church. On that parchment, written in Latin, were Luther’s complaints. They were meant to spark an intramural debate, but instead sparked a wildfire that would spread throughout the world. The topics essentially covered three areas – 1) Whether the church ought to spend money on extravagance. 2) Whether the Pope could exercise powers over purgatory. 3) And the effect of indulgences pertaining to the standing of a sinner before God. The first two topics would have escaped without too much notice. It was the last topic that got Luther into great trouble. His own mind was the battleground and the stakes were high. The question was excruciating, “How can sinful man be reconciled to a holy God?” The answer, found in the book of Romans, was Luther’s gate of heaven. When Luther understood that his right-standing before God was solely based upon the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith alone, he felt himself reborn. The gospel broke in on his heart with the force of the dawn of a new day. The gospel, rightly apprehended (through Christ alone, by faith alone, and through grace alone) and rightly understood (through Scripture alone), changed everything.

A lot has happened in 509 years. Today, the Reformational (and I believe biblical) understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith is under assault. The inference is that we have misunderstood Paul and the Scriptures. The inference is that we have misunderstood the gospel. But what difference does this make? Is all of this an academic debate better handled by ivory-tower theologians? R. Scott Clark makes the connection between the attack on the biblical view of justification and the church in his book, Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry. Clark’s point should be heeded. An attack upon justification and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness will wreak terrible havoc in the life of the church. Clark writes,

“Each (church member) needs to see the true magnitude of his or her offense toward God, the abundance of God’s mercy in erasing that debt through the cross of Christ, and the invincible assurance of God’s approval, grounded on the imputed righteousness of Jesus. As these truths grip their hearts (which often results not from an instantaneous change but from a prolonged struggle) defenses can fall, sins can be confessed (genuinely, not merely as a step in a required formula), forgiveness can flow, and hope can rekindle.”

- R. Scott Clark, Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry, p. 426

We have much to be grateful for and much to be vigilant about this Reformation Day. After 509 years, I thank God for Martin Luther. I thank God for the vexation of soul that brought about an understanding of justification by faith in the imputed righteousness of Christ. This was an understanding that broke through the darkness of performance-based acceptability and shone the sovereign grace gospel in all of its glorious radiance. When you and I trust solely in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ for our acceptance before God we embrace biblical Christianity and become true heirs of the Reformation.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Dan

10/31/2026

 

         

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves as pastor at Madras Reformed Church, and with InFaith as a Missionary Pastor in Central Oregon, assisting small and rural churches. He can be reached at danjmorse@icloud.com

  

It Started Out Like Any Other Thursday

 

Thursday of this week started out like any other; a quick trip to Bend and then I was to meet Judy for lunch in Redmond. Sitting for lunch at Chipotle we took a call from a daughter to talk about upcoming plans. Part way through the call I noticed a flurry of sirens and first responders in vehicles headed south on 97 towards Bend. I didn’t think much of it. Next, I got a text from another daughter (an ER nurse) to let me know what was unfolding at an elementary school in Bend. Later that day I saw a friend, retired law enforcement and part of the SWAT for Deschutes County. He heard the call come over the scanner. He was resolved to give honor to those acting quickly to mitigate loss. 

 

In an unspeakable tragedy another nightmare had taken place, and this time just a few miles from home. There aren’t words to describe it. Children had been killed. 5, 8 and 11; small children and another adult. Other than to say, unmitigated evil; my mouth is hushed. 

 

Less than 24 hours later the politicians are making political hay out of a horrifying catastrophe. There is neither shame nor conscience (Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, I’m looking at you). Let folks grieve and process. Save your soapbox for another day. 

 

Today we pray prayers of desperation. Today we mourn those we’ve lost. Today we ache for friends and family. Today we resolve to speak up for the innocent and condemn the guilty. Today we commend a dad that engaged the fray and stopped the evil cold.

 

My heart hurts for those that have lost children and loved ones. May there truly be some semblance of consolation found. Know there are many of us that have you all in mind. In some small way we share your pain.

 

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” – 2 Thess. 3:16 (ESV)

 

- DJM 

10/16/2026

 

 

         

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves as pastor at Madras Reformed Church, and with InFaith as a Missionary Pastor in Central Oregon, assisting small and rural churches. He can be reached at danjmorse@icloud.com

 

 

 

The Spoils of War

 

The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. - Exodus 15:3

 

Several years ago, when we lived in the valley, my day had begun with checking my wife into an oncology clinic, and ended in picking blackberries from a vicious bramble.  Each visit to the oncology clinic reminded me of a field infirmary at the edge of a battle zone.  Like war-torn and battle-weary soldiers, they would march in and find a place for infusion.  Each week we’d see familiar faces.  Many had the same style of scarves to cover the evidences of their conflict.  Some came alone.  Others had friends or loved ones around them.  Their war was a fight for life.  In a strange twist and with each infusion just the right amount of poison is given; poison to kill a million little unseen invaders, but not too much to kill their host.  Most days in the oncology clinic a victory was won, but the war was hell. 

 

That afternoon I made my way over to the pasture in search of more blackberries.  The siren song of homemade blackberry pie was far too strong.  I knew there were more plentiful and larger berries to be found; I just had to find them.  It didn’t take long and I was in the thick of it; plentiful berries the size of a quarter, so ripe the fragrance was thick in the evening air.  But each berry came at a price.  The razored vines were like an alien force-field surrounding them.  For me to intrude into their world was to invite their shredding barbs into my hands and legs.  I left the brambles a victor, but not without bearing the scars and wounds.  That day in the blackberry bramble a victory was won, but the war was hell.

 

An interesting thing happened that morning at the oncology clinic…I received a note from a friend far away.  Recently suffering the effects of a stroke, he was confessing his discouragement at his lack of progress.  His mind was convinced he can do things his body wants no part of.  He is a soldier, but much of the warfare happens in the theater of his mind.  It took no time at all and when he found out where my wife and I had been he let us know of his prayers on her behalf.  Ever at the ready, his own challenges quickly gave way to enlisting help to assist someone else on another front.  That day in the solitude of a struggling friend another victory was won, but the war was hell.

 

Those evidences of clear and present danger, though ominous and dire at the time, had been put on notice.  We were reminded that the day will come when malignancy will bow to the benign, and death will be swallowed up.  The beautiful blackberry will willingly yield her delectable fruit and the body of my friend will perform lockstep obedience to each internal command.  It may be hard to see now, particularly in this bramble-filled life, but a new day has dawned.  

 

In the crimson-stained lumber of a Roman gibbet, and the screaming silence of an opened Easter sepulcher, the spoils of war have begun to be gathered. A man with a long-shriveled hand has been healed. A man devil-possessed now put in his right mind. A young girl, once dead, now runs and skips at play. A garden lost to the overgrowth of weeds and vines slowly becomes a verdant storehouse of sweetest fare. The final Word has spoken. The eschatological ingathering has begun. Today, and for now, war is hell, but both all at once and bit-by-bit the war has been and is being won. 

 

Our God is a warrior and the spoils of war are his. 

 

 

         

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves as pastor at Madras Reformed Church, and also with InFaith as a Missionary Pastor in Central Oregon, assisting small and rural churches. He can be reached at danjmorse@icloud.com