Here is a sermon Barbara and I delivered at the Hudson UMC on December 4: (sorry about the formatting) Dan Oh, man, I cannot believe it is December already! This year has just flown by. Barbara I know, and it isn’t going to get any better. I have two projects that absolutely MUST […]
A question United Methodists seem to love to hate is about our rules. Are our rules, mainly delineated for us in our Book of Discipline, made to be followed or to be broken? Are rules absolute and unquestionable or are our rules evolving and bendable? Why have rules if we […]
I was asked an interesting question this morning at GC — one I am probably not qualified to answer, but one which I have an opinion, nonetheless. “Assess the systemic constraint that is holding the church locked in its current deadlock on issues of scriptural authority, moral values, and institutional racism.” […]
I never see it coming. I write something I think is compelling or provocative, and no one seems to care. I toss off something I don’t give much thought or energy to, and it gets 3,000 hits. I posted “Crybaby Christians,” and thought I might get some push-back about it […]
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of […]
While working for the General Board of Discipleship, I developed a resource that was never published called “Your New Appointment: The First Hundred Days.” Not a flashy title, but very descriptive. It was rejected because “it wasn’t practical.” I will outline it here and let you decide. It was predicated […]
Okay, here it is — the answer to all our problems in The United Methodist Church. It is so simple, you probably won’t believe/accept it. It comes in two parts — the first part is fundamental conventional wisdom, the second part, not so much. It answers the question: “what is […]
What is it about we human animals and our tendency to climb the ladder of inference and leap blindly into a steaming pile of assumptions? Each and every day we create chaos, confusion and pain for ourselves by ascribing intention, assuming motives, projecting values and jumping to conclusions. Compounding this […]
Another aspect of the complexity around navigating our differences and disagreements of our personal filters and mental models. By basic premise the past couple blogs is that we need better ways of disagreeing and living with differences of opinion, worldview and values. However, it has been interesting fielding emails that […]
I regularly encounter people who believe that disagreements in the church are evidence that we should split the denomination, that somehow we are defined by our differences rather than a common faith, a shared baptism, a risen Savior, and a God bigger than our pettiness. Probing deeper reveals that the […]
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