ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 7, 2022Like many others, I have always been inspired by the words of Romans 3: …since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, I read those words and connect them to the ideas of the 17th century English pastor, Thomas Fuller, who wrote: “He
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 6, 2022In Sunday’s sermon, I got personal. It is not a type of sermon everyone will like, and I’m pretty sure my preaching professor would have scored it poorly as I based it too much on myself. That aside, I shared something in the sermon that probably went by too quickly for some folks. I said: I do not believe God is the source or cause
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 5, 2022Prayer for the Week:You are the Guide too few choose to follow;You are the Friend many do not appreciate;You are the Strength left untapped;You are the Hope discarded along the way;You are the Joy replaced with shallow exuberance;You are the Peace no one seems eager to embrace.Gracious God, you offer us so much, yet we seem content on reaching for the very thing that expects
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 4, 2022I was going back and reading some words from Rachel Held Evans’ book, Searching for Sunday. Like many of you, I miss her even though I never met her in person. Yet her writing style made you feel like a friend, and so often I would find myself allowing a few sentences to go around and around inside my head. Her words unveiled hard truths,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 2, 2022Is it a risk when you are desperate? That may sound like a strange question, but in John 4, we find Jesus returning to Cana, the place where he had turned water into wine. There was a certain royal official in Cana whose son was sick, and when news reached the royal official that Jesus was coming, he went out to meet Jesus and to
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 1, 2022Like many of you, I was really stunned and troubled to learn of a plaque that hangs at the entrance to the science building on the West Point campus, one of the military academies. This plaque says, “Ku Klux Klan,” and shows a hooded person holding a rifle. I’m sure someone will attempt to argue why it is appropriate to leave this image on the
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 31, 2022In Staff Meeting yesterday, we compared two translations of Psalm 145:18. The first one, from the New Revised Standard Version, reads:“The Lord is near to all who call on him,to all who call on him in truth.” The second one, from the Common English Bible, reads:“The LORD is close to everyone who calls out to him,to all who call out to him sincerely.” They generally
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 30, 2022Sunday’s sermon probably received more feedback than any sermon I have ever done, and none of it was negative. Very few clergy can say such a thing. Yet 75% of the feedback has been in regard to my opening illustration about toothpaste, specifically how to get the last little bit from the tube. Folks have been offering their own insights and funny stories about toothpaste.
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 29, 2022Prayer for the Week:Change for the sake of change brings no meaningful change. Change birthed out of bitter resentment only poisons the future. Change for nothing more than a self-serving scheme will subvert the power of hope. Where discerning hearts seek to find love’s greatest expression, change will mirror the divine dream for the world. O Holy One who was and is and always
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 28, 2022In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we find the wonderful litany that speaks of how life has certain periods of time—a certain stage of life when one response makes sense, and then at a later stage in life, a very different response makes sense. As someone who is not very good with letting go, saying good-bye or going in a new direction, I am drawn to