All Articles For Lubbers, MaryBeth

Set back a bit off 40th Avenue in Grandville, Michigan, along a lovely tree-lined drive is Grandville PR Church. The Grandville PR Church building does not pierce the sky with a steeple, nor does it boast those rich medieval stained-glass windows. But, I have always thought its spare, spacious architectural design to be aesthetically pleasing and conducive to worship. The original building committee also insisted on good acoustics. The gradual sloping floor helps make the pulpit visible to all the congregation. The sanctuary features a high-peaked ceiling braced with heavy wooden beams. Its clear-paned windows near the top one-third of...

Once again, regrettably, Prof. Dykstra and I disagree on the interpretation, inaccuracies, and shortcomings that he perceives in our beloved 1912 Psalter. In the July 2019 issue of the SB, Prof. Dykstra con­tinues to point out in his summary of recent synodical decisions the failing of our current Psalter, particularly verse 4 of Psalter number 255. He regards this verse as a “blatant well-meant offer,” that is, heresy. I love this song; we lustily sang all four verses of number 255 in the classroom; nor do I consider myself a heretic. Prof. Dykstra should not allow theological thieves to hijack...

Thank you for the special issue on the Psalter (April 1, 2014). I always appreciate the special issues, and this one was especially dear to my heart. I read with interest all the articles and benefited from them. I can imagine the editorial committee sitting down last summer and coming up with eight to ten different topics on this subject, and I can only hope that at that meeting Prof. Dykstra was assigned the unfortunate topic “Improving the Psalter.” But when a summary of the daily acts of Synod, Day 4, 2014, was handed out in the churches and I...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another… I John 1:7 The family – husband, wife, and children – constitutes the very closest relationship on this earth that is possible. In contrast to the trouble and turmoil of our age, the family unit is a little, tightly-sealed kingdom. Within its walls there is fellowship and nourishment as each member serves the welfare of the other. And although Satan launches fierce attack at this...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women … if it be a son, then ye shall kill him…. Exodus 1:16 Two women. Two women who, through Gods gracious guidance, forever changed the course of human history. Two women, distinguished by names! The first Hebrew names mentioned since the death of Joseph some 300 years earlier. Shiphrah and Puah. Shiphrah and Puah were two relatively obscure midwives living in the land of Goshen in Egypt under the cruel and tyrannical...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. This is a set of 34 speeches given to the South Holland Ladies’ Auxiliary on October 19, 1999 by the first and second graders of South Holland Protestant Reformed Christian School. To be read to your children and grandchildren. The Protestant church has always held Martin Luther in esteem. The Reformed church holds a special warm and grateful place in its heart for him, owing its very heartbeat to the work which God accomplished through Martin Luther. It is satisfying that the world also...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, Michigan. “Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not…”  Psalm 71:18 One thing about life is certain: we all must die. Every single day brings each of us one step closer to the grave. None is immortal, although the great ones of Greece sought by epic and philosophy to cross the River Styx and achieve immortality, and Ponce de Leon scoured the New World for that elusive Fountain of Youth. Today, as well, scientists hunch over their lab dishes in the...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. And he [Elisha] went up from thence unto Bethel and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.  And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.  II Kings 2:23-24 They...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. Having been blessed by attending both the previous anniversary celebrations of the PR Churches, in 1950 and 1975, my husband and I anticipated the commemoration of its 75-year existence with a week-long celebration in tandem with the 61st anniversary of the PRYPC. The threefold cord of love, loyalty, and nostalgia for our churches provided a nearly irresistible tug towards the greater Grand Rapids environs during the week of June 19-23. Many families made an effort to attend. Some traveled long distances. Some camped their...

Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord … and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. Joshua 4:6, 7 Memory is both my bane and my blessing. Imprinted upon it are injuries done against me long,...