Merry Christmas! I don't have many traditions on this blog (other than posting quite irregularly, of course). However, I've tried to maintain a Christmas day tradition. I missed doing it in 2015, so wanted to be sure to get back on track this year. Each Christmas I post this Isaiah passage (which is a reading for …
Category: Faith
This made my week
In a recent note to the families involved in the youth ministries at the church I serve, I wrote this about Church Conference: Church Conference is the United Methodist term for what other denominations might call its Annual Business Meeting, or what a corporation might call its Annual Shareholders meeting, or what a leading tech …
Nov. 27th sermon: ‘Wonderful Counselor’
I am bad at posting the text of my sermons -- mostly because I don't usually write a manuscript from which to preach and then post. Plus, I'm convinced that sermons are best experienced when heard, rather than just read. Here then, is the audio from yesterday's sermon. My editing talents are limited so there …
What’s next?
"Today and everyday, I will fight hatred with love and kindness." It has been, and continues to be, a very difficult week for some of us. Each day since the election, reports of violent words and actions against women, blacks, Muslims, and LGBT folks are (trigger warning for hate speech and language) filling our timelines …
Live blogging Sleep Out Saturday 2016 #HomelessNoMore
As I have the last couple years, I'm attempting to live blog this annual event to raise awareness about homelessness in DuPage County -- and to raise funds to help neighbors experiencing homelessness. Bridge Communities puts on this event to aid their efforts to end homelessness. 6:30am The view in the light of day: 3:30am …
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Throwback Thorsday
Today is Thorsday (aka Thursday) and, I'm told, it's also #NationalSuperheroDay. I don't know why that's a thing, but I like it. Since I was just talking with a friend about a sermon I once did about Thor...seems like a good day for an archive post. Plus, I really do enjoy Marvel's Thor books. The …
My most famous photo
Well, the photo in question isn't really famous. And it's about the only photo of me that's published somewhere other than on my own sites, so that "most" modifier isn't really necessary. Oh, and it's a picture of me but not by me. Other than those minor quibbles, the title of this post is totally …
Resources from Lent
The Psalms of Lent was our theme for the season at Woodridge United Methodist Church. as we prepare to enter Holy Week, I thought it would be fun to collect all the Psalms we used in one place...so I did. Each Sunday in Lent we first heard the Psalm from the New Revised Standard Version …
‘We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality…’
Interconnected. Mutual. "What affects one directly, affects us all indirectly." Issues overlap. We've talked about this a number of times at my church. For instance, I've been known to say something like this, "If we want to talk about ending homelessness, we have to talk about the lack of affordable housing. If we want to …
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Happy New Year
[Note: I originally wrote this as my year-end letter to my congregation. But I thought it might be worth sharing a little wider.] I intended to help us ring in the new year with a couple suggestions of ways we can challenge ourselves to learn and grow in our faith -- which is to say, …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 