Excellent words from Father Richard Rohr: "Christianity is a lifestyle—a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, inclusive, and loving." He continues: We made it, however, into a formal established religion, in order to avoid the demanding lifestyle itself. One could then be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain at the …
Thanks, United Methodist Insight!
What's United Methodist Insight? Truth be told, I was unaware of the project before they contacted me this week. I certainly like the idea though: UM Insight "seeks to provide a broad range of information and perspectives for concerned United Methodists and decision-makers that will affect the future of The United Methodist Church." And I …
Good questions for the church – and from the church
"What's best for the church?" As a pastor I try to make decisions based on the best answer I can muster to that question. It's one of the best and most important things my mentor and friend, the Rev. Linda Misewicz-Perconte, taught me. Seeing decisions through that lens helps me to keep the wider context …
Continue reading Good questions for the church – and from the church
Finding Buerstetta-er?
Two months. It's been two months since my last post here. In times like this my blog title makes me look like an idiot. I wish I could blame the void on a planned hiatus. While summer has been crazy busy, and I did spend a good portion of July curating a private blog …
Celebrating Freedom
Happy Independence Day to all my USAmerican readers! It's been a while since my last post on human trafficking, so what better day to rectify that than today, the national holiday celebrating freedom? Ok, sure, most of us just use today as an excuse to blow stuff up. Doesn't mean we can't try to redeem …
Other words from the BWCAW
My last post attempted to share a brief summary of my recent experience as part of Fuller Seminary's Doctor of Ministry Cohort on Christian Spirituality taught by Tony Jones. I'll post some more of my thoughts soon, but in the meantime see if these words and pictures from others in the cohort don't make you …
Learning in the Boundary Waters
How would you sum up your experience...in 1 sentence? ...Asked Courtney Perry, the professional photographer who was cataloging our Doctor of Ministry cohort through pictures, video & audio. (She is also the spouse of our lead teacher, Tony Jones.) Such a question! Just one sentence to encapsulate: 10 days talking about Christian spirituality through the …
I must not remain silent
Our lives begin to end on the day we remain silent about things that matter. - Martin Luther King, Jr. If you've been on the interwebs at all this week, you've probably heard of Charles Worley, Pastor at Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, NC. There are at least two words in that clause that …
I'm in the United Methodist Church. We're doing a Change the World project. I love Twitter. How could I not reblog this? Join the movement...
Making hungry people hungrier is unacceptable, Part 2: Showing my work
I recently shared this post that was originally published on Bread for the World's Bread Blog. I would understand if you thought my conclusions in that post seemed a bit like a math student who simply writes down an answer. Even though the answer is correct, you'd still like to know how she got there. …
Continue reading Making hungry people hungrier is unacceptable, Part 2: Showing my work
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 