The congregation I serve has a Ministry Team. The four members and I meet once a month to pray for people connected with the church and to discuss any needs people have that the church might be able to meet. Everyone who is actively part of the congregation is assigned to one of the Team…
Monday morning I attended the first session of my collage class, taught by the wonderful artist Lora Jost. There were only three students, and at the end of the session, we each showed and explained the collages we had made. One of my fellow students, a 20-something guy, explained that the small man in his…
In a newspaper column printed on New Year’s day, 1863, Mark Twain wrote: “Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. To-day, we are a…
It is a story most of us know well. The woman and man traveling to his hometown for a census. The baby born, wrapped in cloths, and laid in a manger. Casual observers would know nothing about the angel who visited Mary or the agony Joseph had gone through when he learned his fiancée was…
The first Sunday of Advent this year, our worship service at Peace Mennonite focused on the issue of time–particularly the distinction between Chronos and Kairos. During December, Chronos, or chronological time, is emphasized in many ways. The secular world tells us how many shopping days we have until Christmas. At home, many of us use…
(with apologies–make that “thanks”–to Robert Fulghum) 1. Car trips go much faster if you take a nap. 2. Genetics has little to do with family; if you’re at the table, you’re in. 3. Even if someone’s politics and theology are completely screwed up, you still have to say “please” when you ask them to pass…
The New International Version is the Bible translation of choice for English-speaking evangelicals. So you might be surprised to learn that the 2002 “update” of the translation chose to use gender-neutral language for humanity. And you might not be surprised to learn that this proved to be a marketing disaster. The translation committee will not…
I hate war. But I do not hate soldiers. I believe engaging in armed combat goes against the teachings of Jesus. But I respect the fact that war veterans have made incredible sacrifices for causes they believed to be noble. I am generally in favor of cutting military spending. But I think we should increase…
Cottonwood, maple, elm, cedar, chinquapin, honeylocust, willow, bur oak, red oak. Not to mention duckweed, sumac, and poison ivy. And then there was the wolf spider, the garter snake, the bullfrog. Last Saturday morning I was delighted to walk through the woods with someone who introduced me to all of these parts of God’s creation.…
I’ll be honest about the Faith Forum column below: I just started writing “religion isn’t” statements and then quit when I hit the 300 word limit. But I could have kept going. I think next on my list would be: “Religion isn’t optional.” It was interesting that the other pastor who responded to this prompt…
Spacious Faith 