Three teenagers and one pre-teen helped make our Ash Wednesday worship gathering happen. One served as sound board apprentice, the other three led prayers or scripture readings. Having young people eager to participate in worship always makes my heart glad. Glad hearts were in short supply this Wednesday. Too much death. Always and forever, too …
Happy Christmas 2017
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 …
Working Again
Thanks to Becky, our amazing Office Manager, that lovely greeting was waiting for me when I walked into my office today. My spiritual renewal is over so, for the first time in four months, I was back at work.* As recently as, oh I don't know, yesterday, I wasn't so sure I was ready …
It’s about time
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 …
‘God speed the year of Jubilee’
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 …
Having some fun on Trinity Sunday
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 …
It is 2016, going on 2017…
[Note: This is an end-of-the-year letter I wrote for our congregation, Woodridge United Methodist Church. I've adapted it here for, hopefully, appealing to a wider audience.] I am often asked about that weird word in my title. Koinonia is a Greek word used in the New Testament. I’m not a Greek language scholar, but those …
Happy Christmas 2016
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 …
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 …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 