ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 28, 2026 I’m in Indianapolis for the semiannual Board Meeting of the Christian Church Foundation. It is an extraordinarily talented and amazingly smart group of people, both staff and other board members. I sort of feel like the amateur in the room, though folks are very kind in explaining things. The Christian Church Foundation (CCF) helps people do good things with their money. It currently
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 27, 2026 Rev. Katelin Jordan shared the following from the Communion Table at Contemporary yesterday. And though not technically a prayer, I found the words to be stirring and thoughtful. Long ago our ancestors knew love’s power and they became the tellers of love’s tale. Love bound them in covenant, teaching them to live in community with compassion and concern for the poorest among them.
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 26, 2026 For those of us who follow Jesus, we are the body of Christ. We claim this title, not for the purpose of hunkering down and protecting ourselves, but for the simple reason that we are called to be the body of Christ. If this is a claim we believe, then we must look to Jesus as the one who defines what that actually
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 25, 2026 You are going to be hearing more about it in the weeks to come, but we will need to replace the flat roof above the Activity Room. As you have seen over the years, it has leaks. Long story, but before I arrived at the church, that roof was replaced… but replaced incorrectly (the company went out of business almost immediately). So we’ve
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 24, 2026 In our staff meeting here at the church yesterday, we had a discussion around forgiveness. We focused on a couple of passages from scripture, including Ephesians 4:32, “…be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” The question I put before the staff sounded like a simple one, but I don’t think anyone found it to
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 23, 2026 Shortly before the flood narrative in Genesis, there is a passage that often stops people in their tracks. In Genesis 6:1-4, we find these words… When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair, and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 22, 2026 Outside of a couple of breaks during the year, a group of men gathers every Wednesday at noon to review the list of Joys & Concerns, to pray, and often do a short study. As I continue to remind people, Men’s Ministries tend to have a lifecycle, usually less than ten years. That’s not to say that something new won’t emerge, but in
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 21, 2026 I am always intrigued when I meet people who attend churches where their ministers are understood as being a direct and faultless mouthpiece of God, and they often assume I am such a pastor. Trust me when I say that I have no more of a direct line to God than anyone else, and my understanding of scripture or God is far from
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 20, 2026 Prayer for the Week: Holy God, we ask for peace in a troubled land; for life in a barren land; for humility in a vain land; for healing in a violent land. Whether we speak of the soul found in a nation or that of an individual, there is a sacred imperative calling for revival and restoration. Let all those in need of
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 19, 2026 There is a lot of talk these days about justice, and though some are quick to dismiss it as if it were unbiblical, it is in fact one of the most central concepts within scripture. Now there is the justice that is done in the courtrooms of our country, but the justice spoken by the Prophets and Jesus himself is something far more