ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 17, 2022Frederick Buechner died this week. If you don’t know the name, I want to encourage you to get to know his writings. I wrote on Facebook, “I feel like I lost a friend. He served as a mentor from the pages of his books.” He was a Presbyterian Minister, but mostly known as a down-to-earth theologian and author. In his book, “Telling Secrets,” he told
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 16, 2022Yesterday’s prayer was written collectively, though not in the way most folks think of collectively. I heard the word “exhausted” numerous times yesterday. I heard it used by someone being interviewed on the news first thing in the morning; I heard it spoken by one of the radio personalities on my drive to church; I heard it from a number of people with whom I
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 15, 2022Prayer for the Week:Exhausted! An ever-flowing stream of injustice lies hate masquerading as religion the suffering of the vulnerableI am exhausted! There are things to be done carpools a dishwasher to be unloaded clothes sitting in the dryer for a third day a brown lawn still in need of mowingWe are exhausted! People are hungry in body and spirit homelessness on every street corner COVID
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 14, 2022Yesterday, on my front door, I found a “tract,” a religious pamphlet that someone had left. On the front cover, it asked: Are you a good person? In Mark 10, a man runs to Jesus and refers to him as a “Good teacher,” but Jesus responds by asking, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except God alone. ” The response of
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 13, 2022Today is the first Saturday after the start of school. I have very specific memories of this day as it changed from elementary school to middle school and then to high school. As a younger kid, after being “forced” to wake up early for a few days that first week after summer break, there was something wonderful about that first reprieve. Of course, later in
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 12, 2022I love the story of the Christian Women’s Board of Mission (CWBM), a powerful organization within our denomination during the first fifty years or so. This organization empowered women beyond what many other Christian denominations were doing at the time. These were in the years following the Civil War, in which over 600,000 men had been killed. There was often a gap in leadership, especially
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 11, 2022George Ricks, also known as Parson George, was a former slave who became a preacher in Alabama and Mississippi after he was freed. His moment of transformation happened as he listened to Alexander Campbell preach, eventually becoming a well known black preacher in our denomination’s early history. As a free man, he became a farmer, eventually owning 300 acres of land. Some of the land
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 10, 2022“Raccoon” John Smith was one of the unique individuals in our denomination’s history. He became an itinerant preacher for this new movement after hearing Alexander Campbell speak. In fact, Smith was so compelling that he baptized over 2,000 people in 1827 and nearly that many in 1828. Those are some pretty good numbers. Smith was drawn to the ideas presented by Campbell because of his
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 9, 2022This past Sunday, as I continued the series: The Disciples In A Nutshell, the sermon focused on Alexander Campbell and his strong support of free public education. Alongside it, I talked about his opposition to school-sanctioned prayer in public schools. I feel confident in saying that it was a surprise to some people. You may also find it interesting that Baptists, early in this country’s
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSAugust 8, 2022Prayer for the Week: A 16th Century PrayerGod be in my head and in my understanding;God be in my eyes and in my looking;God be in my mouth and in my speaking;God be in my heart and in my thinking;God be at my end and at my departing.