Sabbatical begins tomorrow, when the look of this blog will change and I will be writing sabbatical reflections.  Anybody with questions about sabbatical may find this page of the blog helpful.  What follows here is part of this morning’s sermon, which was intended to be a pastoral letter a la the Apostle Paul. Pastor Amy, who tries her best to be a servant of Jesus Christ and often fails, to the saints of Christ Jesus who have been gathered on... Read more

Who among us could ever have sat through a youth rally featuring Tony Campolo and not be irrevocably influenced?  I first saw him in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church at its former location in downtown Honolulu–probably sometime around 1983, when he came to preach at some youth event my mother forced me to attend. Tony’s a very engaging speaker; he easily invites audiences to laugh and cry and think about faith.  He also has had the courage to speak out... Read more

Just a few nights ago I was sitting in a meeting of Calvary’s congregational leadership talking about preparing for sabbatical. We’ve been trying hard here to prepare as carefully as we can, so that the twelve weeks ahead of us as a congregation will be spent as fruitfully and healthily as possible. At the meeting a guest facilitator told us that the word sabbatical comes from the word Sabbath, the weekly observance of Jews from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday.... Read more

I confess I groaned inwardly and probably outwardly too when I saw that my text for the sermon last Sunday would come from John chapter 15.  I think what really gets to me in this passage is Jesus’ phrase about choosing: “You did not choose me, but I chose you . . . .” How many times have I heard people talk about God choosing us in a way that is meant to exclude others—in other words, “I am chosen... Read more

Monday I graduated.  It was the end of a very long road.  My parents and sisters and friend Carol showed up to surprise me, and the festivities were out of control.  Maybe everybody else was as surprised as I was to finally see the end??!?  I do think now that I have enough education for awhile.  Amen.  Read more

Oh Gracious and Loving God, you who have loved us with the all-encompassing love of a mother, we pause for a few moments today to look at our lives and note the many gifts of your love. For your creative genius that saw in each of us a spark of potential and divine possibility then lovingly nurtured us into life, we are so grateful. For your gentle care and loving guidance steering us through times of easy calm and holding... Read more

Rev. Larry Weaver Mount Zion Baptist Church 5178 Nottely Dam Road Blairsville, GA. 30512 Dear Rev. Weaver, Recently the enclosed picture of a sign in front of your church was emailed to me by a neighbor of yours in Blairsville, Georgia. As your colleague in pastoral ministry I felt it was my professional duty to write and let you know that your sign is in error. I personally would hate for our church sign to be incorrect, so as a... Read more

I recently wrote about the holy conversations that take place in my van.  They used to be things like, “Mommy, why did God make the flowers so colorful?” or “Look at that statue of Jesus!  It looks like he wants to hug the whole world!” My, how times have changed. Holy conversation of yesterday follows: Youngest Child:  Hey Mom, today I had my very first health class. Me: Oh?  Did you learn anything interesting? Y.C.: Not really.  We just learned about... Read more

Why do people come to church? Regular readers of this blog will know that I think about this topic quite often. Apparently, other people do, too.  Or at least they think about it sometimes. In her recent Washington Post Magazine article “Church Junkie,” V.C. Chickering recounts her own adventure of finding a community of faith. She describes a personal crisis that led her to look for “people who would be nice to me for less than $125 an hour.” I... Read more

It happened as most of these conversations happen. I was sitting in the front hall of the elementary school waiting for my son to get out of an afterschool program. As I sat there the woman next to me, known to me previously only as “Max’s Mom”, chatted with me about all the things that mothers of second graders chat about. Eventually we got around to the dreaded question: “What do you do?” This question is asked in various iterations... Read more