ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 17, 2024The last two weeks have known general craziness for most everyone, yet amidst the craziness of the hurricane and the power outage, we had both VBS and a Youth Mission Trip planned. Without power at the church, VBS could not happen. We were so disappointed, but we have all the material for next year’s VBS ready to go. The Youth Mission Trip had a few
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 16, 2024In part of my sermon on Sunday, I referenced some words from Psalm 30:10, “LORD, be my helper.” I pointed to the word “helper” as I was speaking of how God, through the Prophet Isaiah, announced how the nature of God includes helping us. But what I missed was how the Psalmist referenced God. Notice we translate it as LORD, but in all caps. This
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 15, 2024Our Regional Minister, Rev. Andy Mangum, wrote the following post. I requested his permission to repost it, as I found it helpful but also deeply profound. Days like this tempt us to feed an insatiable appetite for information as we convince ourselves that having information is the same as having knowledge and that having knowledge is the same as cultivating wisdom and and that cultivating
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 14, 2024A lot of people scoff at prayer, especially in a time of crisis. This is understandable in situations where people send their “thoughts and prayers” as a sort of smokescreen to conceal a lack of actual action. With that said, I find prayer—including a community gathered in prayer—to be extraordinarily helpful when there is not a lot that can be done. Waiting can leave us
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 13, 2024As I sit at home, I keep on refreshing the online tracking of where power has been restored. It sort of feels like I’m waiting to see if I have won the lottery. It’s not my house, but the church that I keep on checking. At the end of the day, I have said to numerous people, if it is a choice between having power
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 12, 2024I know what job I am thankful belongs to someone else. Yesterday, I watched a young man climb a tree to begin the removal of another tree that had fallen because accessing the fallen tree was best done by climbing another tree. I would estimate that he was 65 feet in the air, maybe more. He would walk out on a fairly narrow branch, carrying
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 11, 2024Theology is the study of the nature of God, and there are lots and lots of theologies. And despite some people suggesting that they simply want to teach “good Christian theology,” I have a feeling my definition of good Christian theology is going to look dramatically different from their good Christian theology. Sadly, there are two different groups that suggest they only want to teach
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 10, 2024Quick update – as of 7:30pm last night, we still had no power at the church. The tree removal company was out during the afternoon, and they will finish the job tomorrow (we hope). We have one big tree leaning on the breezeway between the Forum and the Centrum. I hope the damage is only cosmetic. The tree removal company believes it will be a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 9, 2024People are dealing with such different things today. Some of you who are regular readers won’t be able to access this because you have not been able to charge your device. Some of you are up early trying to remove debris or waiting for the tree removal person. Some of you are dealing with difficult issues totally unrelated to the storm. Moments like this are
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSJuly 8, 2024Prayer for the Week: What do we pray for as we awaken to a hurricane? Do we wish the storm to go elsewhere, missing us but showing up on someone else’s doorstep? What do we pray for on a day like this? Holy God, listen to us—not to our ramblings that struggle for understanding, but to the contents of our hearts. We love you, yet