ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 28, 2025 As I write this on Thursday evening of Thanksgiving, I am eating some leftovers from an earlier feast, while my wife watches “It’s a Wonderful Life” in the other room. It is my favorite Christmas movie, and I find the time to watch it every year. Though in this moment, I have to laugh because it feels like a threshold moment—still eating some
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 27, 2025 I am thankful this day for all those throughout Christian history, including some people I know very well, who are trying to maintain a very clear picture of a Christianity that reflects Jesus. A little over a week ago, I had an online conversation with someone (gave me permission to mention the conversation in my blog) who is absolutely captivated by the Jesus
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 26, 2025 Yesterday’s Etching on the topic of a green smoothie spilled everywhere in my kitchen was written early in the day on Monday, so before we experienced tornados in our area. A number of people, including a few who experienced some damage from the storm, found the message to be somewhat appropriate. Let’s be clear, a spilled smoothie should not be equated to the
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 25, 2025 I buy some smoothies every month from a place called Daily Harvest. I like the healthiness of the ingredients, and there is one in particular that I was looking forward to having this month. It is a chocolate mint, with spinach and banana. I made that smoothie yesterday with coconut milk, and I couldn’t wait to enjoying every drop. The problem is that
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 24, 2025 Prayer for the Week: This Land Belongs to No One By Hila Ratzabi This is a portion of the prayer. You can find the full prayer at: https://ritualwell.org/ritual/land-belongs-no-one/ “The earth is God’s, and all its fullness; The world and those who dwell upon it.” ~Psalm 24 This land belongs to no one but God. The Earth was here before us and will endure
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 23, 2025 The British journalist, Katty Kay, said, “Everybody fails; it’s no big deal. It’s what being human is. Don’t let that stop you from taking risks.” In tomorrow’s sermon, we are going to be looking at the story of Peter walking on water. We so often focus on his failure, but there would never have been a story about Peter walking on water, or
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 22, 2025 This Sunday is Thanksgiving Sunday because the Sunday immediately after Thanksgiving is the first Sunday of Advent. The second part of that statement was sort of difficult to type as I don’t feel quite ready for the Advent Season to be here. The funny thing is, no matter how much I feel ‘not ready’ for Advent, it still shows up. Yet I can’t
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 21, 2025 What do you do as a person of faith when you experience something that is really quite offensive, yet you realize that for one reason or another, others could not see it? And still others were simply too nice to say something. How do you go from being really ticked off to a place where you can speak calmly and in a way
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 20, 2025 I pulled up a video of one of my former professors, Rev. Dr. Newell Williams, who went on to become President at Brite Divinity School from 2003 – 2022 (new President is Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady, who preached at CCCC during my sabbatical). I had to laugh listening to his lecture as he structured it based on three questions: What is sin? What
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 19, 2025 I’ve always been captivated by the simple yet profound words of Mother Teresa, including, “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” I’m certain there are examples of people who went from zero to full-speed Jesus follower in less than 60 seconds, but for most of us, it was and is gradual and incremental. We build upon