Okay. Blog vacation over. I’m back. I have been unbelievably busy for the past two weeks, but am now going to get back to my two-to-three blog a week schedule. I’m sure you are all relieved… I have tried in the past couple weeks to keep my thoughts to myself […]
I don’t consider myself an old fogy or a prude, but I’m getting fed up with what’s happening to our superheroes. Last year I eagerly anticipated the Watchmen movie, yet I left it disgusted at the glorification of brutality and the gratuitous violence that all but obscured the story. Now, we […]
Age. What a concept. Yesterday (April 29) was my 52nd birthday, and I am contemplating what it means to be “middle-aged.” Yes, I realize I have BEEN middle-aged for some time now, but for me 52 is about the mid-point of middle age. Middle age seems to hit around forty, […]
I remember attending the worship of a young pastor a few year’s ago who was presiding over his first communion. He served a rural congregation, known far and wide for the ongoing conflicts within the small fellowship. It was hoped he could bring peace to an embattled situation. As he […]
The shift from Palm Sunday to Good Friday has always fascinated me. Cheering masses turning to ugly mobs. Crowds assembling to catch a glimpse of the possible Messiah reconvene to scream for his blood. One might think Jesus supported healthcare reform and immigration, the way people turned nasty, threatening his […]
Serendipitous synchronicity. When I keep hearing the same phrase or idea from a diverse variety of sources, I perk up. First, I was listening to some chucklehead talking about how the earthquake in Haiti was “God’s way of testing the people’s faith.” Somehow, dropping tons of cement and stone and […]
Thus begins another Lenten journey — the grey days of late winter set a tone and a hue for the next 40 days. Each year this time I reflect on the themes and values that define for me the path from Ash Wednesday through Maundy Thursday to Good Friday and […]
An adequate life, like Spinoza’s definition of an adequate idea, might be described as a life which has grasped intuitively the whole nature of things, and has seen and felt and refocused itself to this whole. An inadequate life is one that lacks this adjustment to the whole nature of […]
Are there prophets in the church today? Are there any willing to speak the truth regardless of the consequences? Anyone willing to point out the unconscionable amount of money and time we waste in meetings and conferences? Anyone willing to point out that our own systems and structures are as unfair […]
My heart is breaking. I haven’t been back to Haiti in more than 20 years, but a big piece of my heart is there. The trips I made to Haiti were life-shaping and values-reshaping. I learned more about being a member of a global community working in Haiti than I […]
United Methodeviations 