I finished my sermon yesterday by telling about a note I received in my box on a recent Sunday morning. Here's a picture of the original:You get a note like that -- from an eight-year-old who wants to be baptized, gives his phone number, and says he is "looking...
A Jewish rabbi one time put it this way: In the church, you all believe that a family comes to church and finds faith there. Then you bring that faith from the church back to home. In Judaism, we do it differently. We believe that faith starts in...
Last Sunday's sermon ("After The Storm") included this litany from the book Grandparenting By Grace, authored by Irene Endicott and C. Ferris Jordan: We are teachers of God’s plan of salvation to our children and grandchildren. We are witnesses of how God...
During my time in pastoral ministry, I have become relatively comfortable and effective at dealing with people who are in crisis mode.Not perfect by any stretch. But by and large I have been able to be a "non-anxious" presence in people's lives when they are...
Back in 2009, I wrote a post called Why I Hate My Cats. And Why I Love Them. You can read about it here.But now, I neither hate them nor love them. I just miss them.Over the last couple of months, one of them wandered away to die in the woods. She...
Yesterday was, well, eventful.First, I had the great privilege of preaching on a bible story that features inebriation, nekkedness, and the world's first moonwalk. Called "After The Storm," the message came from Genesis 9:18-27, where Noah has an unfortunate...
I alluded to this on Tuesday . . . I can't wait for this Sunday's message.It comes from a biblical story that you have probably never heard used in a sermon.It leads to a question that all too many of us neglect to ask.I pray it brings healing to debris fields...
Psalm 19 is a glorious hymn that at first glance connects a theology of creation with a theology of worship:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.2 Day after day they pour forth...
Good Shepherd Soccer Outreach 2013 Over the last week, 25 Good Shepherd volunteers spent five consecutive nights serving 75 children from two neighboring low income communities. The children we served were as "full color" as our church is...
We've all seen these:And what's inside most of those illustrated children's bible tends to be a much-sanitized version of the real thing.By making Scripture palatable to pre-schoolers and pre-teens, we rob it of its wildness and unpredictability.Sometimes what...