God is not like us — and we tend to forget it. We tend to measure things by fairness and what another person deserves or has earned. We, for instance, can understand why (even if very rare) someone would sacrifice a life for a person who was positive “righteous.” We would have a hard time finding any good in someone like Jimmy Carter — and you Blue folks love him, while some of you Red folk … — giving his... Read more
Almighty God, You have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant that all of us may be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. + Read more
A young pastor’s rant before another Christian is followed by an open and frank and exemplary confession: Purple Pastor, thanks. For those who use a lectionary at all, this site by Bruce Sweet is worth looking at. It provides social justice commentary for each lectionary reading. I’ve been able only to dip into it. |inline Read more
Some of you followed my steep, but bumptious, learning curve in learning how to use my cell phone. Laura taught us how to do the automatic dial, so now I just hold down #2 and it calls Kris. I get the kids by holding down either #3 or #4 and see which one I’m calling. If it’s the wrong one, I try the other number. Always works. |inline Read more
A prayer to kickstart the rest of our Friday. God of mercy, this midday moment of rest is your welcome gift. Bless the work we have begun, and make good its defects and let us finish it in a way that pleases you, Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Read more
A prayer to kickstart the rest of our Friday. God of mercy, this midday moment of rest is your welcome gift. Bless the work we have begun, and make good its defects and let us finish it in a way that pleases you, Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Read more
There’s something fitting about a warm summer evening, some ice cream (or custard in our case), and a lazy drive through a local neighborhood. Both Kris and I grew up in families that often did this. My family usually went to A&W Root Beer where they had car hops. |inline Read more
This convoluted title to my post today means that I’ve found a book that no one seems to talk much about but which is a very fine book — and when I was wandering around trying to find the best stuff on the emerging movement last year, I wish I had read this book. Steve Taylor, The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change. |inline Read more
Suffering, Paul says (so does James), unfolds like an origami: Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. |inline Read more
Andii Bowsher has recently written a book that might be of some use to you, especially if you’d like to combine structure with spontaneity in your prayer life. His book is called Praying the Pattern, and there is a website at Abbeynous that encourages discussion of the book. |inline Read more
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