Stan Mast was the Minister of Preaching at the LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in downtown Grand Rapids, MI for 22 years. He graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1971 and served four churches in the West and Midwest regions of the United States. He also served a 3 year stint as Coordinator of Field Education at Calvin Seminary. He has earned a BA degree from Calvin College and a Bachelor of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Calvin and a Doctor of Ministry from Denver Seminary. He is happily married to Sharon, and they have two sons and four grandchildren. Stan is a voracious reader and works out regularly. He also calls himself a car nut and an “avid, but average” golfer.
Stan wrote weekly sermon commentaries for the CEP website from 2012 to 2019.
Malachi 3:1-4
Commentary
Advent 2C
A number of years ago I preached a series of sermons on the Minor Prophets entitled “The Gospel in a Minor Key.” Obviously, that was a play on words, but it also reflected the fact that these unusual little prophetic books proclaim the Good News in unexpected, dissonant, almost off-key ways. Our text for this…
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Commentary
Advent 1C
Advent begins this year in burned out cities littered with dead bodies and in a devastated countryside where the deer and the antelope do not play (Jeremiah 33:4-5 and 10). After centuries of divine patience with Israel’s blatant covenant breaking, God has finally had it. This dark book of Jeremiah is God’s word of judgment…
2 Samuel 23:1-7
Commentary
Proper 29B
Like other great leaders of Israel before him (Jacob in Genesis 49 and Moses in Deuteronomy 33), David concludes his life with famous last words. Though he undoubtedly spoke other words after this (cf. opening chapters of I Kings), “[t]hese are the last words of David” in an official way, his last pronouncement, his prophetic…
1 Samuel 1:4-20
Commentary
Proper 28B
As we inch ever closer to Advent and another new church year, the Lectionary introduces us to yet another woman who loomed large in the history of redemption. In the contemporary climate of concern about women’s rights and the abuse of women, it is uncanny that the writers of the Lectionary should have long ago…
Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17
Commentary
Proper 27B
As the old church year comes to an end, the lectionary is already ramping up for the new year. With its stunning conclusion, our reading in Ruth anticipates Advent in an unmistakable way. As we prepare to welcome the coming of the long promised King of Israel, our reading tells us the surprising story of…
Ruth 1:1-18
Commentary
Proper 26B
As we near the end of Ordinary Time the lectionary lessons begin to lean into Advent with a focus on three faithful people, two of them in the genealogy of the Christ. The end of the book of Ruth reminds us that Ruth, against all odds, was part of the family tree of David and,…
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Commentary
Proper 25B
After surviving a blizzard of words (some from Job, many from his friends, and a few from God), we come to the end of the book of Job with this short chapter which reports on Job’s last words and last days. It is a surprising and, for many readers, controversial ending to a surprising and…
Job 38
Commentary
Proper 24B
Job is a book full of long speeches by people who are absolutely sure of themselves. Job’s erstwhile friends have turned into prosecutors for the state, pressing their case that Job is guilty of great crimes. Otherwise he wouldn’t be suffering the way he is. And Job gives long passionate defenses of his innocence and…
Job 23:1-9; 16-17
Commentary
Proper 23B
When we left Job last week, he was sitting in the ash heap, covered with nasty open sores, surrounded by three compassionately silent friends, quietly accepting the trouble the Lord had presumably sent into Job’s life. Here, twenty chapters later, not much has changed in one sense. Job is still in utter misery. But in…
Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Commentary
Proper 22B
After a month of looking at Wisdom literature from a woman’s point of view, we will now spend a month in the decidedly masculine book of Job which wrestles with the question that has confounded the wisest women and men in the world. Why should a righteous person suffer in a world ruled by a…
About Stan Mast