Are we really all too busy to spend time with God? I was in a situation recently where one group was bashing another group and I innocently asked if they had ever gotten together to pray. You might have thought I suggested they mate with animals. The idea that we […]
I have been reading both Bruggemann and Block (The Word That Redescribes the World and Community/Abundant Community) and have been challenged in my thinking to a great degree about how we live together in healthy Christian community. Both books press a very simple, yet signficant distinction between two Cs: consumer […]
Every community has its own unique interests and passions, and when I served in northern New Jersey in the 1980s, that interest was gardening. In Westwood and the three towns surrounding (Emerson, Hillsdale, and Park Ridge), garden clubs were the rage. To be a pastor seeking to connect with the […]
I remember a trip to New York City in November of 2001. I rode past hundreds of signs with three basic messages: thanks and gratitude to the fire fighters and law officers, heart-wrenching pleas for information about lost/missing loved ones, and hate messages against a slew of foreigners. These three emotions defined the […]
United Methodeviations 