Daily Devotionals

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 28, 2024“You couldn’t help but notice how her life was dripping with gratitude.” Those words were shared by a minister more than two decades ago at a funeral I attended. The funeral was for a relative of one of my church members, and I was asked if I would come to be supportive. I was so captivated by the line that I went to my car

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 27, 2024Today is that important holiday we call Thanksgiving Eve. Though I don’t know the story as well as I should, I believe it was the fall of 1621 that some of the Wampanoag people joined the English separatists (others would call them Pilgrims) for a multiple-day feast. This happened after the Wampanoag people had assisted the ill-prepared separatists in navigating their new surroundings, teaching them

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 26, 2024Did you do anything stupid when you were younger? Maybe I should ask it a different way. Did you know anyone who did not do something stupid when they were younger? That’s likely a much shorter list. Among the many stupid things I did as a kid was to show off by doing backflips. As a gymnast, I was capable of executing a standing backflip

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 25, 2024Prayer for the Week:We enter the fields and till the soil with the expectation of fostering life and abundance.We seek to sow the seeds of sensibility in a world that has lost its compass.We bring nourishment to the goodness that is taking root, yet remains just under the surface.We offer ourselves to the work of tending and being good stewards of what is possible.We prepare

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 23, 2024In the story of the feeding of the 5,000, everyone got their fill, and there were still leftovers (Matthew 14:20).  I’m sure you’ve known a Thanksgiving dinner or two where a similar outcome occurred. And the truth is, I’ve strangely found myself enjoying the leftovers more than the original meal. There is something about returning to the refrigerator and piling a plate full of turkey,

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 22, 2024A funny thing happened on my way to the office yesterday. Actually, that is not true. Nothing funny, out of the ordinary, strange, or exciting happened on the way to the office yesterday. Honestly, starting a story with the words, “And nothing out of the ordinary happened on my way to the office…” is probably not going to grab anyone’s attention. Yesterday, as I delved

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 21, 2024As some of you may be aware, a prominent voice in the Christian movement died Monday. Tony Campolo was a gift to many of us who believed following Jesus included actively living with compassion and concern for the most vulnerable and refusing to remain quiet in the face of injustice. Tony was a Sociology Professor at Eastern College for many years, while also preaching the

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 20, 2024Rob Bell, in his wonderful book, “Everything Is Spiritual,” writes about his relationship with his wife. While I appreciate the wonderful portrait of the love he has with his wife, I do not believe it is exclusively love found within a marriage. As he eloquently wrote,  “There was a giant paradox there, hiding in that love. She didn’t make any demands, but what that did

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSNovember 19, 2024Yesterday, I booted up my computer to find the usual big dump of emails. Despite my best efforts to mark spam and unsubscribe from unwanted messages, I still receive a ton. Among the numerous emails, three particular emails caught my attention. The first email contained an update on someone’s health, and it was a bit concerning. The second email came from an organization that supports