Dave Buerstetta on striving to do justice and love others while walking humbly with God
"Some things are worth losing for." I was driving, listening to a podcast (my current preferred in-car entertainment) when I heard that statement. It was arresting. Almost literally. I was so struck by that thought that I had to pull over to process it for a moment. "Some things are worth losing for." Ta-Nehisi Coates, …
...(said in Jim Nantz voice, of course). A peek into our office today: That's Lead Pastor the Rev. Danita R. Anderson with me preparing for our church's preschool to parade by our offices. It's a tremendous gift to work with Danita, who is always ready to laugh. One of the reasons we work well together …
Merry Christmas! The closest thing I have to a tradition on this blog is this Christmas day offering. Each Christmas I post the Isaiah passage below (which is a reading for Christmas Eve worship every year); John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)", which I find the world's best and most challenging Christmas song; and …
14 months ago today, on July 14, 2016, my dad died. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've written that anywhere. Why did it take me this long to write that? What is different today that I want to write it? I don't know. I haven't really wanted to write …
It's Independence Day here in the USA. A day we celebrate our freedom...usually by eating and drinking a lot then blowing things up. Or at least watching things being blown up. On some level I suppose that's pretty much perfect, given who we are. This morning I got a notice that the Washington Post linked …
This past Sunday, June 11th, was Trinity Sunday. While many complex and profound words have been written about the idea of God as Trinity, it seems to me that, at its core, it is a fairly simple -- though still profound -- idea: God, as God is in God's self, is relational, communal. Because humanity …
[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, …
7:58pm Yeah, I know SOS is long-since done, but it occurred to me that I completely failed to say something extremely important: Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to our wonderful adult volunteers, Troy, Karen, Larry, Nikole, Christine, Deonne, and Kathy! This event is only possible because of you. 6:39 Wakey, wakey! 5:58 …
This week at Wednesday Night Live (my church's weekly gathering for youth) we watched a video. Of course, in and of itself, that's hardly newsworthy. We often use some kind of media to get a conversation going. But I don't know that we've ever been able to use an award-winning short film before. Once I …
Sorry to disappoint, but this post has no connection to Syracuse University, college football, or the Bears. Instead we're talking hunger. And $40 Billion. I spoke about going orange in my sermon on Sunday. It's easy enough to change a Twitter or Facebook profile to support the cause. It's easy enough to read about ways …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 