ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 2, 2025Last night, CCCC hosted the Interfaith Prayer Walk on the National Day of Prayer. I had two fascinating conversations that were sort of outside of what was really planned, but aren’t those usually the best conversations? One was with a longtime friend from the Jewish faith, and another with a new friend from the Quaker tradition. Both of them talked, from different perspectives, about an
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 1, 2025How many of you have your May Baskets ready for delivery today? Growing up, this was a big deal. We spent a couple of days prepping the baskets, making sure each one looked great. Since we were in Nebraska, there were not a lot of flowers in the garden on May 1, so we often cut them from construction paper. Then, if it was a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 30, 2025I was in Indianapolis for about 36 hours for the Board Meeting of the Christian Church Foundation. This was my first Board Meeting, and if you’ve ever served on a national Board, you probably remember your first meeting. To begin with, you’re just trying to remember all the names of the folks sitting around the table (thank goodness I already knew a handful of them),
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 29, 2025It’s hardly surprising that the word sabbatical is connected to the word Sabbath. The word Sabbath is first found in scripture in the Book of Exodus, where we hear how the people are to remember the Sabbath. This notion of Sabbath comes out of the first creation story found in Genesis 1, where God rested on the seventh day. The word Sabbath in Hebrew is:
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 28, 2025Prayer for the Week: God of Love, we are like the pilgrims who journeyed to Emmaus many centuries ago. As we traverse this path, we seek faithful and supportive voices that remind us of your presence with us at every turn. When we find ourselves in challenging situations and encounter those who seek to harm anyone with a fragile ego, we strive to serve as
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 27, 2025In the scripture that we will focus on this morning, we learn of two people who encountered the resurrected Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. As the story is told, they did not recognize this stranger as Jesus until they sat down at a table and Jesus took bread, blessed it, and broke it. In that moment, their eyes were opened. I am intrigued by
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 26, 2025Today is the Greater Houston Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Cypress Creek Christian Church has a good number of folks going, and I am looking forward to gathering with fellow members of our tradition. I am a church geek, and I name that. I enjoy most church gatherings, especially when I’m able to have the quiet conversations in the hallway where I
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 25, 2025If you have turned on the TV in recent days, there is a pretty good chance you’ve found a news story about Pope Francis. His life deserves all the tributes, even though his humility would have found such praise to be unneeded. Historically, the Catholic Church has taught that the Pope, when speaking about church doctrine, is infallible, or to say it another way, there
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 24, 2025Yesterday was Earth Day, and the day before that, I planted three trees. I’m not bragging. They were given to me, and when you’re given trees, there is only one thing to do—find a good home in the dirt. And though I watered them immediately after planting, I have been thrilled with the rain we have received the last 24 hours. All my life, I
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 23, 2025For more than six or seven years (really, for more like three decades), we have been talking about the decline of Christianity and the growth of the nones. Of course, the nones are not to be confused with the nuns. Nones are those who self-describe as unaffiliated with any organized religion, often checking the box “none” when asked which religion best describes you. Our denomination,