ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 29, 2023My car registration sticker had been sitting on the dining room table for a while, yet the end of the month was approaching, and it needed to get put in its proper place. I don’t know about you, but there are certain things where I get 92% of it done but don’t quite get it past the finish line. The inspection was done, the online
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 28, 2023More than a year ago, Donna and I heard that “To Kill a Mockingbird” was coming to the Hobby Center, and so our Christmas gift that year (even though tickets were not yet on sale) was dinner and a play. From age 15 to 40 or so, I read “To Kill a Mockingbird” at least once every year. It continued to reveal new truths and
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 27, 2023This Sunday is Youth Sunday! It is a great Sunday, and not simply because I don’t have to preach. It is a great Sunday, as we have the opportunity to witness our youth giving expression to their faith. Since coming to CCCC, and specifically under the leadership of Rev. Mariah Newell, Youth Sundays have been powerful. What we’ve experienced in recent years puts to shame
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 26, 2023Yesterday, I wrote about the cost of doing business as a church… literal costs. As I write this Etching, my desk is a mess. And so many of the items sitting in front of me are brochures and advertisements for some newfangled software to help organize church ministry or an online video library that would be available at the press of a button or a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 25, 2023There are days in ministry when I envy Jesus wandering the hillsides and small towns with a small group of followers. No buildings; no power surges that wreak havoc on elevators and AC units; no workers’ comp insurance; no bank fees for depositing money into the bank, etc. Church is a lot more complicated today, yet despite my complaints about the hassles and costs of
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 24, 2023Prayer of the Week:Holy and Steadfast God we pray for all those who stand faithfully alongside another – a family member a friend a neighbor a stranger those whose faithfulness represent you in those moments of fear grief loneliness despair hopelessnessMay your Spirit be for the caregivers a source of encouragement strength resilienceFor the work is often thankless always exhausting with more demands than there
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 23, 2023About a month ago, as I was driving to church on Sunday morning around 6:30am, I dropped by the convenience store for caffeine. I was dressed up, wearing a tie, and someone in the store made a comment. I said, “I’m headed to church.” He says, “Oh, it is church day.” I laughed, but that phrase sort of bothered me as the day progressed… even
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 22, 2023Like you, I am heartbroken and angry and dumbfounded, along with a handful of other emotions that have no words. I’m talking about the shooting of Ralph Yarl (and others recently), the 16-year-old from Kansas City. It is one more window through which we must pause and glimpse the fear-driven hatred still prevalent in our society. I know the area of the shooting well, as
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 21, 2023Kat Armas is a Cuban American author and theologian, and I recently listened to her online talk about a Guatemalan woman by the name of Rigoberta Menchú. Menchú won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her work on the rights of indigenous women. Her earliest experiences of Christianity were those of a Christianity born out of colonialism, a form of Christianity that was all
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSApril 20, 2023Toward the end of Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth, he writes: “Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (16:13-14). I find it interesting how Paul connects standing firm, being courageous, and being strong to doing all things in love. You would think that doing everything in love would only