Peripatetic Pastor

Author: Clay Libolt

  • RESURRECTING THE PAST: MEDITATIONS ON THE PAST, PART 2

    “‘There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,’ [O’Brien] said. ‘Repeat it, if you please.’ ‘Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past,’ repeated Winston obediently. ‘Who controls the present controls the past,’ said O’Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. ‘Is it your opinion,…

  • REMEMBERING: MEDITATIONS ON THE PAST 1

    REMEMBERING Meditations on the Past, Part 1 Adria and I are recently returned from time in Europe. We visited among other places Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. In these places we were confronted with the remnants of the still close past, the history of Naziism and of Soviet era communism. In thinking about this history, I’ve…

  • CONFESSIONAL UNITY

    Choosing Unity instead of Conformity Unity and Conformity In church disputes—and there are always church disputes—it is easy to confuse conformity with unity. They are not the same. Unity acknowledges and embraces difference; it brings differences together. Conformity wants sameness; it insists that everyone think and talk the same. Unity builds bridges; conformity tears them…

  • THE COLLAPSE OF AUTHORITY: NOTES ON THE CRC SYNOD The real story The synod of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) has just completed its work. Synod 2025 was devoted mostly to cleaning up the margins on a series of decisions beginning with Synod 2022—decisions that have fundamentally remade the CRC and driven away many members. …

  • LOOKING FOR LOVE

    A Review of “Materialists” by Celine Song The title of Celine Song’s new movie is apt. She portrays a Manhattan culture of unapologetic materialism. What matters is money, youth, good looks, height, power, and, well, money. Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a professional matchmaker. She works for a company with the cringy name Adore. She’s already…

  • FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

    GRACE FOR AN ANGRY WORLD I’m back. Having spent much of the past couple of months traveling—more on that in subsequent posts—I’ve had the chance to return to the topic I’ve been considering off and on for some time: atonement. The subtext of this discussion is the way that theology often claims to be about…

  • BACK TO THE PSA: A FRESH READING OF ISAIAH 53

    Isaiah 53 and a New Understanding of God Back in the PSA It’s been a while. I’ve been traveling. And other things keep coming to mind and to hand. But with this post I’m back to PSA: penal substitutionary atonement and its way of (mis)construing the Christian gospel. Somehow writing this paragraph put me in…

  • GOOD FRIDAY, EASTER, AND BEYOND: NOTES ALONG THE WAY

    Resurrection: Eastertide Meditations For the Easter season—the eight Sundays from April 20 (Easter) through June 8 (Pentecost)—I am writing the Sunday Blog for the Reformed Journal. The posts appear here. For the series, I am following the gospel readings from the Common Lectionary.  I’m calling the series, “Windows on Mystery.” In the first of the meditations (posted on…

  • Windows on Mystery

    Happy Easter! Check out my Easter blog post for the Reformed Journal: https://reformedjournal.com/2025/04/20/windows-on-mystery-touch/. The Windows on Mystery posts will appear on Sunday throughout Eastertide.

  • POLITICS AND KOREA: A PALM SUNDAY MEDITATION

    The question was how Christians should respond to political developments. It came, as such questions often do, from deep anxiety about what was happening in her country. How should she be involved? Should she join a demonstration? Should she be shouting across the street at those who opposed what she stood for? What in these…