I confess I was a little dubious. Ambivalent. Okay, actually kind of filled with trepidation. I mean, I know it is part of my job and everything, but I’m not much of a river rat myself. I can handle baptisms in the calm, warm waters of our church baptistery, but Zach really, really wanted to be baptized at our church camp that sits on the banks of the Potomac River. Do you know what sorts of germs are in the... Read more
We came home this weekend. Well, technically we didn’t really move that far (right next door), and by “we” I mean the congregation of Calvary Baptist Church. For the past three plus years the church has been occupying our built-during-the-Civil-War sanctuary for everything from quarterly business meetings to Christmas sing-alongs. The administrative, educational and programming space of the church has been undergoing total renovation and actually being completely rebuilt in part. The new space includes a beautiful recording studio, a... Read more
I’ve been watching quite a bit of Little League baseball recently because certain individuals in my household participate (not me). So, anyway, I find it part of my family responsibilities to sit in a folding chair at the baseball field and cheer on two Takoma Park Little League teams. I have to tell you: somehow this is not exactly what I imagined being a cheerleader might be like, but I guess better late than never, right? In addition to watching... Read more
We spent Memorial Day on the water, just a few miles from downtown DC. Our older two kids were out of town so our abbreviated family seemed so much more . . . mobile. We decided to take Monday to explore Annapolis. Hanging out along the waterfront we had an afternoon of ice cream, sail boats and crab cakes. Isn’t it such an irony that we often live in a city but don’t always take advantage of the beauty right... Read more
I have always maintained that being a pastor is one of the most bizarre jobs on the planet. I am starting to think, however, that parenting rivals even pastoring. (What does it mean if you are trying to do both? Don’t want to think about that . . . .)Yesterday I had a telephone call from Miss Bartley, 7-year-old Sam’s deeply loved second grade teacher. Calling from the health room at his school she informed me that Sam had had... Read more
In a previous post I tackled some of the critical questions arising from my recent viewing of The Da Vinci Code, including the burning question of how Audrey Tautou outran various pursuers in 3 inch heels. I still have not fully mined the depths of those questions, but here are some more critical ponderings: As previously established, The Da Vinci Code is fiction.My friend Pastor Frank takes issue with my insistence that the movie is fiction, but I’ll have to... Read more
The liturgical season known as Ordinary Time is right around the corner. I had the chance to participate in a project of the RevGalBlogPals, a webring of blogging female ministers and their friends to write a book of devotionals to last all the way through Ordinary Time. Check it out! Read more
I had to see it, in much the same way I had to see The Passion of the Christ. Everybody is asking me what I think about the Da Vinci Code, as if, because of my profession, I might have some divine pronouncement previously unknown to Dan Brown, Ron Howard or Tom Hanks. The thing is, surprisingly, the movie sparked a variety of different thoughts, enough, in fact, for two blog entries! So, for all of you who asked .... Read more
Who would’ve thought that you could build a whole worship service around shoes? (What, the whole armor of God passage doesn’t make you think of shoes? If not, why not?) This is the kind of inspiration, creativity and, some might say, insanity that happens when you gather together a whole group of exciting (and fashion savvy, I might add) individuals who believe, strangely enough, that the sacred text still holds a message for us today. Last week I was fortunate... Read more
I always thought summertime at church was a little slow . . . Wednesday night dinner cancelled because everyone is on vacation, adult Sunday School classes combined to give teachers a break . . . you know, that kind of thing.May I say emphatically that this is NOT the case at Calvary?Why it should surprise me that this church is out of the norm I have no idea. But every year around this time I feel myself gearing up for... Read more
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