ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 14, 2024A lot of people scoff at prayer, especially in a time of crisis. This is understandable in situations where people send their “thoughts and prayers” as a sort of smokescreen to conceal a lack of actual action. With that said, I find prayer—including a community gathered in prayer—to be extraordinarily helpful when there is not a lot that can be done. Waiting can leave us
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 13, 2024As I sit at home, I keep on refreshing the online tracking of where power has been restored. It sort of feels like I’m waiting to see if I have won the lottery. It’s not my house, but the church that I keep on checking. At the end of the day, I have said to numerous people, if it is a choice between having power
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 12, 2024I know what job I am thankful belongs to someone else. Yesterday, I watched a young man climb a tree to begin the removal of another tree that had fallen because accessing the fallen tree was best done by climbing another tree. I would estimate that he was 65 feet in the air, maybe more. He would walk out on a fairly narrow branch, carrying
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 11, 2024Theology is the study of the nature of God, and there are lots and lots of theologies. And despite some people suggesting that they simply want to teach “good Christian theology,” I have a feeling my definition of good Christian theology is going to look dramatically different from their good Christian theology. Sadly, there are two different groups that suggest they only want to teach
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 10, 2024Quick update – as of 7:30pm last night, we still had no power at the church. The tree removal company was out during the afternoon, and they will finish the job tomorrow (we hope). We have one big tree leaning on the breezeway between the Forum and the Centrum. I hope the damage is only cosmetic. The tree removal company believes it will be a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 9, 2024People are dealing with such different things today. Some of you who are regular readers won’t be able to access this because you have not been able to charge your device. Some of you are up early trying to remove debris or waiting for the tree removal person. Some of you are dealing with difficult issues totally unrelated to the storm. Moments like this are
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 8, 2024Prayer for the Week: What do we pray for as we awaken to a hurricane? Do we wish the storm to go elsewhere, missing us but showing up on someone else’s doorstep? What do we pray for on a day like this? Holy God, listen to us—not to our ramblings that struggle for understanding, but to the contents of our hearts. We love you, yet
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 7, 2024First, remember that it is a one-service Sunday today at 10:25am in the Forum. It is a combined service, with both the choir and some of the band. These are good Sundays, as they remind us that we are one church with one mission, worshipping in two different styles. In fact, the theme for tomorrow is based on the word seamless. Did you know that
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 6, 2024I will be returning from camp later today. It has been a marvelous experience, and I applaud and celebrate the counselors who gave of their time, some of them taking a week off from work to make sure this camp could happen. Oh sure, there were a few of us clergy folks, but there were those who are simply passionate about church camp and the
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 5, 2024In Matthew 13, we read the words: Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. I love how the Gospel writers begin a new story with a rather bland introductory sentence. Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. You think to yourself, “Big deal!”