It is a wonderful story. Both CNN and the UK’s Daily Mail are among those who are telling us about Grayson Clamp, the three-year-old boy who heard his first sound last month. It is a story of amazing technology with a compelling human touch. Grayson was born deaf, but now with an “auditory brain stem implant,” he is able to hear sounds. The first words he heard were from his adopted father, “Daddy loves you.” Watch the CNN video to see his reaction.

In fact, right now no one is exactly sure what Grayson is hearing. Is it simply sound, even noise, or is he beginning to be able to sort pleasing sounds from harsh sounds? He does not yet know that the sounds that form the words, “Daddy loves you” mean the same thing as “Daddy loves you” spoken in words signed by his father. Continue reading →

LPC Family,

I have spent the week away from Langhorne, one of two weeks allotted for study leave each year. I am in the southern part of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Black Mountain, North Carolina. We are a seminar group fo the Foundation for Reformed Theology, six of us who gather for a week once a year to read and discuss around a variety of topics in Reformed Theology. Five of the six of us graduated from Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, twenty years ago this month.

This year’s topic is Forgiveness and Reconciliation and our reading has included the writing of Miroslav Volf, who reflects on the possibilities and necessity of forgiveness between his native Croats and the Serbians whose slaughter of each other marred the last decade of the Twentieth Century. We have also read Duke Divinity School’s Gregory Jones whose “Embodying Forgiveness has prompted some deep conversation among us. Continue reading →

Earlier this week I asked for some help in preparing for Sunday’s worship service. I reminded you that we’d be celebrating LPC’s 125^th Anniversary and that worship would be centered on Psalm 103 and its refrain, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”  We’ll also be introducing the immensely popular “10,000 Reasons” to our 8:30 and 9:45 services (already well known at the 11:30 service).

So, the question was, In what way has your life at LPC given you reason to sing God’s praise? Continue reading →

Becky and I spent a long Memorial Day weekend in Michigan with two of our three children, their spouses and our two grandchildren. It was wonderful.

At fifteen months, our granddaughter is communicating so well and developing a vocabulary to go along with hands-out “pick me up” and pursed lips “I don’t want to eat that.” Our grandson will be three years old in August and offers a running commentary on life. Both children exercise complete dominion over their grandparents.

Poets and pathologists, studied experts and loving parents marvel at the phenomena of human language. Language is one of our good God’s greatest gifts to humanity and one of its greatest responsibilities. Both tablets of the Law speak to the responsible use of language – prohibitions against using language about God in a vain way and against using language about our neighbor in a false way. Continue reading →