ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 13, 2023It has been nearly a decade, but one afternoon, I received a phone call at the church in which the caller had many questions about the church’s beliefs. Clearly, from the questions, this was an individual who was searching for what I would call a very odd form of fundamentalism. When my answers were not pleasing, I was called a “harlot” and an “abominator.” I’m
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 12, 2023Prayer for the Week: Life is not always rainbows and butterflies. The life we live is a mix of emotions, for no one is exempt from sorrow, disappointment, or pain. Hear us, O God, who is a participant in the full spectrum of life. Hear our words of gratitude and thanksgiving, but also our words of anguish and even the muttering of our spirits when
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 11, 2023As strange as this may sound, my mantra lately has been: Be intentional about attentiveness. If you are already attentive, it sort of seems obvious that adding intentionality is overkill. Yet with that said, I can appear attentive and even convince myself I am attentive, yet all my energy has gone into thinking about appearance for others and convincing myself. And along the way, little
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 10, 2023In Ancient Greek, the original language of our New Testament, there are three words we translate into English as LOVE (actually, there are more than three if you look outside the New Testament). This reminds us of how we attempt to cram a lot of meaning in simple four letter words, a rather wide range of meanings that might dilute our intended meaning. Tomorrow, in
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 9, 2023Amidst some crazy weather last night that included power outages and no traffic lights in the area, we had a bunch of youth (many of them new youth as this was the first gathering with those moving into 6th grade this fall) show up. If you were not here for Youth Sunday, then you missed the glimpse of what is happening in Children and Youth
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 8, 2023I’m preaching on a portion of Ephesians 3 this Sunday, so yesterday and today, I am looking at some of the earlier verses from that chapter. In vs. 7, we read: “Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.” The word servant, sometimes translated as slave, can
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 7, 2023In the opening of Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul writes: “This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation…” Within those words, I hear a person
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 6, 2023VBS — Vacation Bible School. The first day is in-the-books. As I sat at my desk, I felt a sudden urge of curiosity to explore the history of VBS. I knew it had existed for as long as I’ve been alive, but how much longer? Of course, there are some differing opinions on where it first got started, but some folks point to 1873, when
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 5, 2023Prayer for the Week:I sit on the outside looking in.Wanting to believe,Yearning to know,That your love can reach me.I am told, again and again,By good religious peopleHow your love has conditions,Conditions I do not meet.I look to Jesus, study his storiesAnd I am in awe of a loveThat is limitless and relentless.But those with pious titlesAnd sanctimonious designationsTell me your love is unavailable,That such a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJune 4, 2023Have there ever been people who defined you based on one thing they knew about you? Very few things, by themselves, can really define a person. Society, and even more so, marketing, tries to pigeonhole us, and too often people allow themselves to be put inside a very narrow box of someone else’s conception. I’m going to guess that none of us fit inside any