By Lara Schopp, Director of Communication My father-in-law was a man of few words. He worked hard and had high expectations for the people in his life. He was fiercely private and kept his circle small. He was a cowboy and a lifelong horseman, spending hours tending to his last three geldings, Read More...
By Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence and Minister of Spiritual Formation If you look up the word communion in the dictionary, the first entry simply reads “sharing,” whereas other entries have the usual religious overtones. Turns out, sharing is precisely what the Greek word means as well, only with definite religious Read More...
“Is this an uncomfortable place for you to be?” a sister asked her brother. It seemed like a strange question to ask given the setting. The wedding guests were joyously dancing on the dance floor. The cousins had just sung a duet, an old spiritual. The children were savoring a slice of Read More...
When the church staff convenes each Tuesday we engage in a discussion about a topic prompted by an article we’ve all read in advance. Because we bring a variety of gifts ministry, the topics are wide ranging: from music to technology, from theology to business management. We muse about how God’s Spirit Read More...
I wonder if Mary and Joseph told anyone that their 12 year old, Jesus, had disappeared for three days while the family was attending a festival. Or if the father of the prodigal son shared with his rotary club friends that his son was out squandering his inheritance at the casinos in Read More...
By Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence and Minister of Spiritual Formation It’s not uncommon in her sermons to hear Carla reference a book she’s been reading or a podcast she’s listened to recently, maybe an episode of “The Moth.” It only recently occurred to me that not only are there people Read More...
By Lara Schopp, Director of Communications Each Sunday during worship, I have a moment when I think “I’m probably not supposed to be doing this.” That moment comes during The Lord’s Prayer, when—while everyone else in the room is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, which is reciting those sacred and Read More...
By Rev. Catherine Stark-Corn, Minister to Children and Families Recently a friend told me of a book she said I must read. It is not a new book – just one she happened upon in the library, and after reading she could not believe she had not heard of the story. Life Read More...
College students singing classic spirituals, concert pianists performing Bach and toddlers dancing to the sounds of a flute. These were our visions when we crafted the October concert series at the church. It would be a way to celebrate the classical music that graces our weekly 11:00 a.m. worship as well as Read More...
By Corey Meyer, Director of Mission Partnerships I was in my first 100 days at Country Club Christian when I first started hearing the words “affordable housing in Kansas City.” Invitations to public forums, Facebook posts, interviews on KCUR, and news articles were swirling around. At the same time as I was Read More...
By Rev. Tyler Heston, Minister to Youth We should really start a book club for the church staff. Soon after Catherine shared an article that mentioned The Overstory by Richard Powers, six of us were reading (or had already read) the book. The novel weaves the story of various people from across Read More...
For the last eight months, the church leadership has been listening to its members through a series of events: Centennial Conversations, First Impression Gatherings and a Feasibility Study. (See related article on results of that study on page 2.) But what I want to muse about is the theological or spiritual enterprise Read More...
Years ago, I was a part of Lenten Study Group that was scheduled to meet for three weeks. But the group continued to meet for more than 10 years. We read books, went on retreats, dined in one another’s homes, shared secrets, shed tears and plotted together on big projects to make Read More...
A few weeks ago in the parlor after worship, one of the little girls in church came up to me with a very quizzical look on her face. “I know that Easter is when Jesus rose and I know that Christmas is when he was born but what is Halloween?” I loved Read More...
By Dr. Mike Graves, Scholar in Residence/Minister of Spiritual Formation There is a story in the early church of a man named Philip coming across someone reading from the prophet Isaiah in the Bible. Philip asks the man if he understands what he’s reading, and I love his response, “How can I, Read More...
