ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 25, 2024I am writing this as I make my return trip to Houston from Chautauqua, NY. It was an amazing week, though describing the experience is challenging. There is an X Factor that, in my opinion, can only be understood through a firsthand experience. There are a number of those kinds of things in life, and Chautauqua is one of them. There were seven of us
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 24, 2024This summer at Chatauqua, there has been a world premiere play by Kate Hamill. In a panel discussion yesterday, she was talking about what they had learned from these performances. So much is learned from the audience response, and though she said that they have not changed any of the dialogue in the play, the experience of these world premiere performances has left the DNA
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 23, 2024The French author, Pierre Coneille, once wrote, “Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others, but from doing something worthwhile.” In Acts 13:52, we find the disciples “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Paul and Barnabas were struggling to remain faithful, while so many others wanted to see them fail (or see them dead). The joy they
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 22, 2024How many of you read it in the email Etching that I was unable to correct or read it online before I had a chance to correct it? Yes, in yesterday’s Etching, I wrote “Right them off” instead of “Write them off.” And yes, I know the difference, but this is a reminder for me to not write my Etching while trying to do something
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 21, 2024Yesterday, here at Chautauqua, Sherman Jackson, the Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture at the University of California, offered a wonderful lecture. One of the many fascinating things he talked about was how some people of faith believe it is their job to either redeem others or condemn others. Those are the two options, yet those options sort of leave out what was and is
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 20, 2024As many of you know, I am currently in Chautauqua, and it is actually cold. For those of you who do not know what Chautauqua is, the best explanation I can give is that Chautauqua is a church camp for adults, specifically those who are seeking to hear new ideas and to do so within the context of other thoughtful people. One of the speakers
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 19, 2024From the Prayer of Confession at Chautauqua’s Sunday morning worship service: We’ve been too easily seduced by easy answers, half-truths and false judgments. We have failed to seek Your truth, and love one another as you have commanded. Christ, have mercy. In this tense and often ugly season of politics, may the confessions we make in prayer be made with a sense of expectation, for
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 18, 2024Ken Wilber says that most of us are only willing to call into question 5 percent of our present information, and that’s on our best days. The job of a pastor is to work gently within that 5 percent and slowly help individuals make needed changes where change is needed. Prophets, on the other hand, appear to have no concern about a person’s inability to
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 17, 2024People often tell of how Edison failed 10,000 times before finally finding success with the electric lightbulb. I don’t know if that story is historically accurate or not, but it is often used to encourage people to be persistent. It is a nice story, but most of us are ready to throw in the towel when one bad thing is followed by a second and
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 16, 2024The Prophet Isaiah, wrote in chapter 55, “…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst