Ben Gresik
@bengresik.bsky.social
36 - "Just a regular guy who is also a pastor"
at Bethel CRC, Brockville, ON
at Bethel CRC, Brockville, ON
Happy Logan Lucky day! This scene gets funnier every year.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwa6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwa6...
Logan Lucky - George R R Martin demands
YouTube video by The Original Mr E
www.youtube.com
August 18, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Happy Logan Lucky day! This scene gets funnier every year.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwa6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwa6...
This feels very true in practice. There are lots of people in the Churches I have served that are not "radical" and yet remain faithful in their place.
mereorthodoxy.com/kichijiro-wa...
mereorthodoxy.com/kichijiro-wa...
https://mereorthodoxy.com/kichijiro-was-right
t.co
August 7, 2025 at 12:18 PM
This feels very true in practice. There are lots of people in the Churches I have served that are not "radical" and yet remain faithful in their place.
mereorthodoxy.com/kichijiro-wa...
mereorthodoxy.com/kichijiro-wa...
It is way past my bedtime.
August 7, 2025 at 4:55 AM
It is way past my bedtime.
I think it was better when rich people didn't have a way to get richer by showing us how rich they are.
July 30, 2025 at 7:12 PM
I think it was better when rich people didn't have a way to get richer by showing us how rich they are.
Kirsten Sanders in Mere Orthodoxy mereorthodoxy.com/forsaking-al...
July 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Kirsten Sanders in Mere Orthodoxy mereorthodoxy.com/forsaking-al...
The sound of the dishwasher is a weird generator of focus for me.
July 14, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The sound of the dishwasher is a weird generator of focus for me.
I've been pastoring for almost five years. I still find it much easier to write a sermon than a congregational prayer.
July 11, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I've been pastoring for almost five years. I still find it much easier to write a sermon than a congregational prayer.
This book is an excellent companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" and has been so helpful in naming something I've thought about a lot when considering virtual church.
July 10, 2025 at 7:42 PM
This book is an excellent companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" and has been so helpful in naming something I've thought about a lot when considering virtual church.
Yesterday: "Boy, it sure feels like this discussion group is just cycling through the same ideas. I'm not sure what I'm doing here."
Today: "Boy, this discussion group is generating some certified gold."
I am being reminded to be patient and gracious in a variety of spaces.
Today: "Boy, this discussion group is generating some certified gold."
I am being reminded to be patient and gracious in a variety of spaces.
July 10, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Yesterday: "Boy, it sure feels like this discussion group is just cycling through the same ideas. I'm not sure what I'm doing here."
Today: "Boy, this discussion group is generating some certified gold."
I am being reminded to be patient and gracious in a variety of spaces.
Today: "Boy, this discussion group is generating some certified gold."
I am being reminded to be patient and gracious in a variety of spaces.
Had to leave home at 6 this morning, so for once I was grateful that the old dog tried to wake me up at 5.
July 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Had to leave home at 6 this morning, so for once I was grateful that the old dog tried to wake me up at 5.
"Kings may lift up their heads above the clouds, but they, as well as the rest of mankind, are under the government of God; and such being the case, it is in vain for them arrogantly to struggle to obtain exemption from the obligations of reason. Yet this is what they do..." John Calvin on Ps. 82
July 2, 2025 at 3:20 PM
"Kings may lift up their heads above the clouds, but they, as well as the rest of mankind, are under the government of God; and such being the case, it is in vain for them arrogantly to struggle to obtain exemption from the obligations of reason. Yet this is what they do..." John Calvin on Ps. 82
Sometimes you take a paragraph out of the sermon and suddenly it's much better. That happened today. Now I need a nap.
June 22, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Sometimes you take a paragraph out of the sermon and suddenly it's much better. That happened today. Now I need a nap.
I keep checking social media at night to discover there are no messages. It's mostly because everyone who is usually posting is here where I am.
June 15, 2025 at 3:26 AM
I keep checking social media at night to discover there are no messages. It's mostly because everyone who is usually posting is here where I am.
More advisory committee meetings this morning. The chair says they may be finished early enough to have a plenary session tonight #crcsynod
June 14, 2025 at 2:05 PM
More advisory committee meetings this morning. The chair says they may be finished early enough to have a plenary session tonight #crcsynod
Advisory committees are meeting, so the hallways at Redeemer are mostly empty. The campus is pretty beautiful (although most of them are...) #crcsynod
June 13, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Advisory committees are meeting, so the hallways at Redeemer are mostly empty. The campus is pretty beautiful (although most of them are...) #crcsynod
The pink means I get kicked out when we go to executive session. #crcnasynod
June 13, 2025 at 10:14 AM
The pink means I get kicked out when we go to executive session. #crcnasynod
This feels an awful lot like a mix of summer camp and the first day of Grade 9 #crcnasynod
June 12, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This feels an awful lot like a mix of summer camp and the first day of Grade 9 #crcnasynod
Just over here fighting a losing battle against the use of AI in church spaces.
June 8, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Just over here fighting a losing battle against the use of AI in church spaces.
Went to do a wedding for a couple from my previous congregation after five and a half months away. It made me feel a lot of feelings that I wasn't expecting. I don't know how anyone participates in Church life without caring about people.
June 8, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Went to do a wedding for a couple from my previous congregation after five and a half months away. It made me feel a lot of feelings that I wasn't expecting. I don't know how anyone participates in Church life without caring about people.
I'm reading Stanley Hauerwas' "A Community of Character" right now. This paragraph leapt off the page at me yesterday.
June 5, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I'm reading Stanley Hauerwas' "A Community of Character" right now. This paragraph leapt off the page at me yesterday.
I took a break from writing about the CRCNA and George Lindbeck to writing about the CRCNA and Neil Postman. We might need to teach people to read if we want to function...at all together.
open.substack.com/pub/bengresi...
open.substack.com/pub/bengresi...
CRCNA Inside Baseball #7: Neil Postman and Literacy
In his 1985 book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” Neil Postman tells a story that I think about a lot.
open.substack.com
May 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I took a break from writing about the CRCNA and George Lindbeck to writing about the CRCNA and Neil Postman. We might need to teach people to read if we want to function...at all together.
open.substack.com/pub/bengresi...
open.substack.com/pub/bengresi...
On restorationism: There's wisdom in the past, but the past is not inherently wise.
May 9, 2025 at 12:36 PM
On restorationism: There's wisdom in the past, but the past is not inherently wise.
Louis Berkhof in 1938 touching on pieces of what George Lindbeck gets to in 1984. It makes me think the challenge of being a particular Christian is to not segregate it to one part of life.
May 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Louis Berkhof in 1938 touching on pieces of what George Lindbeck gets to in 1984. It makes me think the challenge of being a particular Christian is to not segregate it to one part of life.
I went to see Thunderbolts*
I was very excited about it.
It was really great.
It is nice to have excitement pay off for once.
I was very excited about it.
It was really great.
It is nice to have excitement pay off for once.
May 4, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I went to see Thunderbolts*
I was very excited about it.
It was really great.
It is nice to have excitement pay off for once.
I was very excited about it.
It was really great.
It is nice to have excitement pay off for once.
I've gone through half of this book in the last week because of some time on an airplane, and have been finding it very helpful. Billings fits nicely with Lindbeck (who he quotes at one point).
May 3, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I've gone through half of this book in the last week because of some time on an airplane, and have been finding it very helpful. Billings fits nicely with Lindbeck (who he quotes at one point).