"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 …
Continue reading Live blogging Sleep Out Saturday 2016 #HomelessNoMore
Lament
Divorce. Disease. Death. The uncomfortable truth is that our congregation, our communities, and our country is hurting. From more than just those three 'd' words, of course. But those are the ones I've encountered most in recent weeks and months. Too often, we feel the need to present ourselves as doing fine -- even in …
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 …
April 15th, Jackie Robinson Day
I love baseball. It's been my favorite sport to play, watch, follow, and read about my whole life. Now it's our 10 year old son's favorite too. I love striving for justice, especially what usually gets called social justice. I love trying to learn more, reading about it, connecting with people and organizations working on …
Walking (and reading) the Stations
Last year this blog went through an extended new-post drought. While I wasn't posting here, I was still writing and posting (at least occasionally) for my church site blog. Those posts felt specific to that audience, so I didn't put them here even though I always use this site to write them (the WordPress process …
Moving from “Good” Friday to a holy Saturday
Today is known as "Good Friday." Well, it's actually only known as such among English- and Dutch-speaking people. Other names for this day include, according to UMC Discipleship Ministries, "'Holy Friday' among the Latin nations, "Great Friday" among the Slavic peoples, "Friday of Mourning" in Germany, "Long Friday" in Norway, and "Holy Friday" (Viernes Santo) among Hispanic …
Continue reading Moving from “Good” Friday to a holy Saturday
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 …
Time to act thankfully
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Global Food Security Act yesterday (Thursday). Our friends at Bread for the World, the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, and 65 other organizations endorse this bill. Why? More than 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. The Global Food Security Act makes into law: …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 