Dave Buerstetta on striving to do justice and love others while walking humbly with God
I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this, but it was 45 years ago today (April 4) that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Yesterday, Fred Clark posted a long excerpt from Dr. King's April 3rd speech, often called the "I've been to the mountaintop" speech. It's fabulous oratory. Fred rightly pointed …
Continue reading Remembering that ‘shot rang out in the Memphis sky’
It seems to me that our words sometimes (often?) get in the way. Here then is a fantastic video about Good Friday that uses no words. Created by SparkHouse for their line of Sunday School curriculum called Holy Moly. It is meant to be shown to and with children. But I think you'll find it speaks powerfully to …
Continue reading Experiencing “Good” Friday and Holy Saturday
Today, March 22, is World Water Day. So what? Water changes everything: I first learned of World Water Day two years ago. Some of what I wrote then still applies: I don’t know about you, but I generally don’t even notice just how available water is to me. Among the kitchen sink, the water dispenser in our …
For me, striving to live the life of faith always comes down to “love God and love your neighbor.” That’s why I always say it in any parting blessing I offer. It is the essence of following God in the Way of Jesus (as I understand it based on scripture, tradition, reason, and experience). While …
"There's nothing like having a daughter for turning you into a feminist," remarked a parishioner after a sermon I gave sometime ago. While I remember neither the specific statement I made nor exactly when this exchange occurred, I vividly remember thinking, "I really hope I was a feminist before we had a daughter. Maybe I …
Thursday was a really good day. After months and even years of delay, the U.S. House of Representatives FINALLY passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - and with it the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA)! The General Board of Church & Society of The United Methodist Church reminded us what The United Methodist …
It's noon on Valentine's Day. It's time to dance and break the chains! If I could be, I would be downtown dancing with Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) or War Chest Boutique: Naperville to join in with 1 Billion Rising. UPDATE: Check out pictures from CAASE's rising in Daley Plaza. A friend who works …
Continue reading ‘Break the Chains…Women Are Not Possessions’
Do you want to your faith to matter? Matter both to you and to the world? Do you want your life to be full, meaningful, deep, resonant, beautiful, everlasting? I asked this in my Jan. 27 sermon. I said that to answer those questions in the affirmative means making Jesus’ way our home. What is …
Last summer, Woodridge UMC youth and leaders (including me) traveled to McLaughlin, South Dakota, in the middle of the Standing Rock Reservation. That was usual, commonplace, expected. We take a trip like that every year. What none of us predicted was how significantly we would be impacted by that trip. The second night we began …
Continue reading Standing Rock Reservation visited Woodridge, IL
As I wrote on Thursday afternoon, word broke of yet another shooting at a school. This time a 14-year-old was shot at a middle school in Atlanta, Georgia. According to police, the suspect is in custody and the wounded student is “alert.” Both suspect and victim are students at the middle school. This shooting occurred: …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 