ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 17, 2026 Prayer for the Week: Spirit of life and love, we pause this day seeking a holy hiatus from the noise around us and the noise within us. Calm us; provide us space for even a momentary respite; remind us of just how loved we are. Continue, Holy God, in the work of connecting us to people who are filled with affirming and life-giving
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 16, 2026 It’s Sunday again. As clergy often say, “It’s amazing how it seems to come around every single week.” Now I know that I am sort of nerdy when it comes to church, and if someone were to ask, I’d have to admit that I really love Sundays… even the ones that can run from early morning until late at night. I love Sundays
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 15, 2026 In the translation known as the Message, Amos 8:4-7 speaks powerfully… Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing, Who say, “When’s my next paycheck comingg so I can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good time? “ Who give
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 14, 2026 In his 1962 commencement address at Yale University, John F. Kennedy offered these words: “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” Almost 65 years have passed since those words were offered, but they remain just
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 13, 2026 A colleague in ministry, Rebecca, for whom I have great respect, wrote the following on social media more than a decade ago, yet I continue to find it inspiring. She wrote, “A new day dawns, and I am once again practicing my purpose.” I love the attitude expressed in those words. Of course, before we can practice our purpose, we need to know
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 12, 2026 Jesus is Lord might be the oldest Christian confession we have. When the Apostle Paul wrote those words, he was not offering an original declaration, but echoing what he had heard. In an essay by Dr. Joerg Rieger entitled: Why Paul Was Never a Conservative, he suggests that the word kyrios (Greek word for Lord) was “not a vague religious honorific in the
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 11, 2026 A funny thing happened on Sunday, or maybe I should call it embarrassing. I have been known to be a bit of a control freak when it comes to worship. I have my opinions, and those opinions can carry some weight. Well, Sunday, I was not participating in worship. Joel was preaching, Jimmy Jacobson was directing the choir, Paula was the worship leader,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 10, 2026 Prayer for the Week: We are far from perfect, yet you love us simply because that’s who you are. Thank you, Generous God. And through your love, we find your mercy and forgiveness, gifts that are not intended just to be received alone, but to become the catalyst by which we honor the work of repentance and seek to make amends that help
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 9, 2026 Recently, someone thanked me for showing such kindness through an act of forgiveness. To be honest, I didn’t even remember it. So maybe the old adage of forgive and forget can be true, but it’s probably going to be in those situations when we really didn’t feel all that injured. You appreciated the concern of the person who apologized and asked for forgiveness,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 8, 2026 Today, I will be officiating at the funeral for a woman who was nearly 106 years old. It is sort of hard to wrap my brain around what it might have been like to live 106 years, and to have experienced all the changes that occurred in that time. In 1920, 65% of homes in the United States did not have electricity. People