I have been privileged to spend some time recently with a woman in our church who is in the final days of her life. She is on her journey home, and her cancer ravaged body is shutting down. It is a beautiful thing to see the love that her family shares with her and…
Today is my first official day of sabbatical! I have four months to read and pray and write, to rejuvenate and refresh, to deepen my pastoral identity and hone my pastoral skills. And it all starts today! According to “The Plan,” I was supposed to be on retreat today and tomorrow. Then I looked at…
Here is the prayer we will pray at the beginning of our Good Friday service: Holy One, we gather in your presence on this holy night. We look forward to the resurrection celebration. But we know that first, we must walk this path with you. Give us ears to hear. Give us eyes to see.…
The ten commandments and turned-over tables. What a great week to be a preacher! Here is the prayer of confession and offertory prayer we are using this week. Prayer of Confession O God, Have mercy on us. You draw us to holy places, and we fail to look for you. You speak to us holy…
As we prepare to celebrate New Year’s Day this coming Sunday, I am re-posting a New Year’s prayer that I wrote last year. I have formatted the prayer to be read responsively-leader speaks the plain text, congregation the bold, and everyone speaks the bold italics. As always, you are welcome to use this prayer in…
Here in Lawrence, Kansas, our local homeless shelter recently signed a contract to buy property in anticipation of building a much needed new facility. In an effort to raise necessary funds for a matching grant, several local churches are designating either the first or second Sunday in November as “Shelter Sunday.” I wrote the prayer…
Today’s worship piece was not written for the context of corporate worship. Rather it is a prayer I wrote for myself at then end of what has been two long days of pastor work and parenting work and simply trying to do what needs done. Earlier today I read through the sermon that one of…
Here is the call to worship we will use this week to go along with Matthew 18:15-20. Call to Worship (from: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Mark 6:7; Matthew 18:20; Acts 2:46; Hebrews 10: 24-25) As we gather together to worship, let us remember the words of Scripture: Two are better than one, because they have a good…
This is the little table in the prayer corner at my house. I was inspired to create this space several months ago after I came home from a retreat. If you’d like to see a picture of the family member who spends the most time here, click on over to my guest blog at the…
This is a prayer I wrote several years ago. It ties in nicely with the Romans (12: 1-8) reading for this week. Prayer of Thanksgiving Dear God, giver of life, for each and every part of this church body We give you thanks. For those who teach and those who learn. For those who speak…
Spacious Faith 