The utility crews were peering into this hole the other day as I was walking through our parking lot. I asked if I could look, too, and they graciously agreed. I casually mentioned that it reminded me of the holes we dug for the foundation of a community center on our most recent mission in Nicaragua.
Install. The goal of the day was installation. Men were coming to install a new dishwasher in the morning, a new washing machine in the afternoon. Maybe the garage door installer would also show up to give us a bid. When the green and white truck pulled out of the driveway before noon, we were smiling and enjoying hearing the quiet hum of the new dishwasher. Then I turned on the kitchen faucet and no water came out. Something in the installation had gone terribly wrong.
I am intrigued by the phrase “spiritual millionaire.” The phrase jumped off the page at me as I was re-reading the autobiography of one of the great spiritual leaders of the 20th century, Thomas Merton, called The Seven Story Mountain.
How do you build Community? One neighborhood at a time. My 8th grade class at school consisted of 53 students; classmates I had grown up with and known my whole long life.
Sometimes in the midst of a semester teaching students about preaching, I chase a rabbit or two. Ok, maybe three. One of those hares is the educational ministry of our churches.
How is a Christian to respond to shouts of white supremacy and anti-semitic slogans? And how can we hold fast to our conviction to “love neighbor as self” without escalating the conflict?
I vividly recall the first time I saw something called a “Macintosh,” a product of an unknown start-up Apple Computer. This little ivory-colored box was in a friend’s basement office and was only connected to the electrical outlet. As we huddled around its tiny black and white screen, it came to life with a little smiley face. Something in my very being sensed that we were peering into a window on the future. We were.
Is there anything quite as unsettling as moving? Up until a year ago, I was blissfully ignorant of the logistics of relocating my family of three roughly fifteen blocks south. It felt like the world got turned upside down, put into boxes, and we shoved them wherever they would fit so the floors could be finished and the shelves installed in the basement. For that whole period of time, “home” was not a place, but something we—as a family—were discovering.
I am writing to you from the monastery in Atchison where 125 Benedictine nuns are eagerly awaiting 600 guests who are coming to watch the full solar eclipse. An astronomer from the Vatican will be here to speak and they are serving hot dogs on the lawn. One nun giggled as she pictured people stopping on the highway to see the moment that hasn’t happened for 99 years and will not happen here again in our lifetimes.
It was another fantastic year of Vacation Bible School! The kids loved or super hero theme, as well as all our volunteers. A huge thank you to all who participated and took a leap of faith to volunteer with VBS this year.
Maybe you and I want more than a strong and thriving church. Maybe what we are asking is how to be an extraordinary church. We’d like to be more than a collection of folks with similar values who love God. What we really envision is becoming a community where the spirit of God dwells.
The renowned Lutheran scholar Gordon Lathrop claims that one of the many amazing things about Christian worship is how we set this next to that, what he calls “juxtaposition.” We set Sunday next to the other six days of the week, for instance. We set the preaching of the word next to the table. We set the rhythms of Advent and Lent next to Santa Claus and March Madness, respectively. This set next to that.
I’m currently in the process of cleaning out my desk as I prepare to transition into a fulltime position at church. The prospects ahead are exciting: short term, as we gear up for Carla Aday’s installation; and longer term, as we think about what 100 years of existence – and beyond – looks like...
I have been walking into the same building to come to “work” for 29 years. But today feels different. And new. And scary. And exciting. I am humbled by and grateful for the call you have extended to me to serve as Senior Minister.
At first glance, two books could not seem more different. Who Counts? is a numbers book for children ages 3-8 based on scripture stories. I pretty much “get” that one. The other is Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Everything I know about astrophysics I learned from “The Jetsons.”
