Dave Buerstetta on striving to do justice and love others while walking humbly with God
A few weeks ago I wrote about the new UMC resource, Ministry With* the Poor I hope you’ve checked that out by now and at least watched the introductory video. If not, I encourage you to do so now. One of the fascinating things about Ministry With* the Poor is the collaborative effort bringing it …
Continue reading Guest blogger: Pastor Jim responds to Ministry With
As I continue to prepare my sermon for tomorrow’s worship - it’s Pentecost Sunday! - I seem to have a lot of different ideas swirling through my head. So I thought I would share them with you. Welcome to the chaos that is my brain function! 1. First of all there’s the scripture for the …
I'm so excited! I'm taking our 5.5 year old son to his first White Sox game tonight! We've got our hats, our snacks and we're ready to go! [Sorry for lack of links, I'm writing this via iOS as I drive to the game]
I am an American Baptist. I grew up attending an American Baptist church and I am ordained by the American Baptist Churches USA. However (and oddly), I’ve spent the last 15+ years serving as one of the pastors of the Woodridge United Methodist Church. As The United Methodist Church is about ten times bigger than …
God's love extends even into the place we think is, by definition, the absence of God. Over the last two weeks, the responses to the news that Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden have been legion. As have been the tone of those responses. In all that I have read, this post by Eugene Cho …
Greetings from warm and sunny Pasadena, California! I am here for a conference called Mighty Waters: Preaching and Living God’s Passion for Justice. If you know me at all, you can probably already tell why I was drawn to this gathering. I’m all about striving to understand ourselves as called to live in – to …
During our worship services this Easter Sunday, I got to read the lesson from Acts 10. I added a little prologue because the prescribed reading from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) begins in the middle of the story. It's a story that's too good, too important to skip over. In fact, I argue that it …
I'm very bummed that the Blackhawks couldn't complete the comeback, losing Game 7 in OT...Next goal wins the series. Damn, that's intense. Meanwhile, the White Sox are still struggling. But they managed to win their second game in a row. Yankees threatened with runners on 1st & 2nd with only one out in the bottom …
It's Saturday night. That means you've made it through Maundy (Holy) Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. For us pastor types it also means it will soon be time to share cogent, coherent thoughts in the form of an Easter Sunday sermon! That's the mounting pressure, anxiety-inducing meaning of "Sunday's coming." If you're still figuring …
Since the blogosphere is overrun with people reflecting on their journey of faith in Christ (most of whom are way better at it than I), it should come as no surprise that posts on the meaning of Good Friday abound. Here are some that I found meaningful and thought-provoking: 1. My friend Adam Ericksen offers …
All That I Can't Leave Unsaid 