Last week at the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) there was a genuine spirit of enthusiasm and joy as we encountered the ancient words of Isaiah calling us to raise our wings and “Soar!” There were many realistic voices of concern raised also. Worship attendance and church membership Read More...
We worship every week in order to hear old words like the one John wrote to the church 2,000 years ago: “There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear!” I believe that with all of my heart but I still have to wrestle with fear. There is so Read More...
One of my all-time favorite movies is “The Blues Brothers,” starring John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd. They are ex-convicts who have put together a blues band in order to raise money for an orphanage. They are total losers. They seem to mess up at every opportunity. Any time anyone asks them what Read More...
“Our God is a great and wonderful God!” I heard those words several years ago while on a mission trip to South Africa. Our team was worshipping in a small church in Knapp’s Hope, a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. The villagers shouted for joy, sang with great gusto and Read More...
Every year I like to share my summer reading list with you all. If any of you are reading some of these books, please let me know! I’d love to hear your thoughts about them. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, by General Stanley McChrystal. A friend, Read More...
In the Oscar nominated film, Selma, we see a portrayal of Martin Luther King and his leadership that is both inspiring and honest. King has been memorialized in stone, but as the movie demonstrates, no one, not even history’s greatest and most transformative leaders, emerge onto the world’s stage as icons. The Read More...
Winning and losing with grace is the key to being the kind of person that people want to be around, whether you are playing a game, working on a project or simply enjoying a cup of coffee. Learning to be gracious resides at the heart of the Christian life. Graciousness begins with Read More...
The life of Jesus was centered in prayer. At almost every important event in the Gospel of Luke we find Jesus praying. He prays at his baptism and when he is choosing the disciples. We find Jesus praying before he teaches and he prays before Peter’s confession. He proclaims that the temple Read More...
A few years ago I woke early after a sleepless night. I was worried about a serious decision. Feeling the need to rejuvenate my spirit, I grabbed a U2 CD on my way out the door and plugged it into my car’s sound system. I pushed the random button on the player Read More...
Learning to live with our scars is one of the toughest things we will ever face. It’s hard to do because they remind us of our pain. The reminder can be a point of grace, though, when we allow it to clarify what matters. Maya Angelou once said for her, writing is Read More...
Fred Craddock, the finest preacher in America, died last Friday in Blue Ridge, Georgia. “Fred Craddock was a national treasure and a devoted servant of the church and Jesus Christ. His impact on preaching – in terms both of scholarship and practice – is incalculable,” said Tom Long, his friend and colleague Read More...
If you had faith (and you do), you would be able to take on the world in all its beauty and ugliness. Even if you are awash in doubt, even if you are barely hanging on to a thread of faith and it feels like you are about to fall into a Read More...
Paul, writing to the church in Rome declares, “hope does not disappoint.” It is a beautiful witness from one who has been through the worst that life dishes out. Beaten, mocked, imprisoned and worse, it’s almost impossible to imagine that Paul after all of that could write about hope. Yet there it Read More...
Marcus Borg, a popular, though at times controversial, Jesus scholar died last week after a long illness. I was caught off guard by the grief I experienced when I heard the announcement of his death. I shook his hand once at an event where he was the main speaker but beyond that Read More...
Jesus is very clear in Mark 3: “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven their sins.” That is an amazing statement but too often we in the church have added comments to that word of forgiveness. Too often we have said, “Well, yes, forgiveness is a gift for everyone and Read More...
