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.
Hebrews 7:23-28
Commentary
Proper 25B
Comments and Observations The Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and the recent sex scandals in the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church will make this text (and much of Hebrews) a real challenge to preach. With its emphasis on the priesthood of all believers, the Reformation made the intercession of human priests unnecessary. All believers…
Hebrews 5:1-10
Commentary
Proper 24B
Comments and Observations In the verse right after our reading, the author admits that what he has just written is “hard to explain.” That is an understatement. It is particularly hard to explain today’s lectionary reading to a 21st century church that isn’t one bit interested in closely reasoned arguments about a “high priest in…
Hebrews 4:12-16
Commentary
Proper 23B
Comments and Observations As I reflected on this text, my mind went to Harriet, a member of one of my churches who, like the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews, was slip-sliding away from the church. No, Harriet wasn’t drifting back to her native Judaism, as they were. A baby boomer of my vintage,…
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Commentary
Proper 22B
Comments and Observations In all the Bible studies I’ve been part of for the last 40 years, I can’t remember anyone exclaiming, “Let’s study Hebrews!” At least once a year someone will urge the group to study James, the focus of the lectionary last month, because “it’s so practical!” Hebrews is so… impractical, so theological…
James 5:13-20
Commentary
Proper 21B
Comments and Observations If I were to preach on this text, the sermon might be titled “The Prodigal Project.” I would basically skip the first 6 verses and focus on verses 19 and 20. I would adopt that preaching strategy, not because those first verses are irrelevant, but because those last two are so painfully…
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Commentary
Proper 20B
Comments and Observations There are two ways to read this text. First, it might be a development of the theme of wisdom raised in James 1:5, then dropped for three chapters, and now revisited for further explanation. In other words, this is one more isolated bit of instruction in a long string of pearls randomly…
James 3:1-12
Commentary
Proper 19B
Comments, Observations, and Questions As I’ve said before, the Epistle of James aims to help “believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” (2:1) conduct themselves in consistently Christian ways in a difficult and deceptive world. Rather than spelling out the Gospel, this letter simply assumes that its readers believe in and love Jesus Christ. Thus,…
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
Commentary
Proper 18B
Comments and Observations In this age of growing income inequality, when the gap between the 1% and the 99% seems to widen daily, these words of James 2 are a hot button text. We’ll have to be careful how we push the button. If we blunt the message of this text because we don’t want…
James 1:17-27
Commentary
Proper 17B
Comments and Observations The millennial generation in your church will love the Epistle of James, because it presents the Christian faith as less of a head trip than as a way of life. Indeed, James is so filled with practical instructions for Christian living that Martin Luther famously called it a “right strawy epistle… for…
Ephesians 6:10-20
Commentary
Proper 16B
This is now our eighth week in Paul’s magnificent letter to the Ephesians. We have moved from the heights to the depths, from Paul’s soaring revelation of the mystery of the Gospel to his down and dirty commands for everyday living, from the church’s witness to the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” to…
About Stan Mast