ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 11, 2024Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “I am many things to many people: civil rights leader, agitator, trouble-maker and orator, but in the quiet recesses of my heart, I am fundamentally a clergyman, a Baptist preacher… The church is my life and I have given my life to the church.” When Dr. King wrote those words, I do not believe he was suggesting that
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 12, 2024Yesterday, Cypress Creek Christian Church had the funeral service for one of our longtime members, Lewis Crossley. He and his family joined the church back in the 70’s when it was meeting at Bammel Middle School. I had a couple of strange incidents, one during the funeral and the other at the graveside. When I stood up to speak, something in the flower arrangement close
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 10, 2024Mercy Amba Oduyoy is a theologian from Ghana. According to Christian Century, Oduyoy “consistently raises her voice to insist on men and women’s equality in a culture that endorses values of communal care and wholeness but fails to demonstrate them toward its own women. At the same time, her theological voice asserts the full value of all people in the church.” Christianity was not born
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 9, 2024I have always resonated with Matthew 10:11-14, where Jesus sent his disciples on a short mission, but in case they ran into some not-so-welcoming people, the disciples were told, “…shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.” It almost sounds as if Jesus is telling them to be like ducks—to let stuff roll off them like rain off the
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 8, 2024What’s important to you? I’m sure the answer might change depending on one’s current circumstance or maybe a recent life event that has suddenly consumed one’s attention. I saw a little snippet online recently that suggested that fewer and fewer people have conversations with other people about what they believe to be important. As a society, we tend to sit in front of the TV,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 7, 2024Tony Campolo tells the story of a small town church that got a new minister. Everyone loved the new preacher, praising his preaching. The town skeptic asked one of the church leaders, “Why is this preacher so much better than the last one?” The church leader answered, “The last one told us we were sinners, and unless we changed our ways, we would all go
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 6, 2024Prayer for the Week: For everyone who is angryFor everyone who feels exhaustedFor everyone who believes we are better than thisFor everyone who has convinced him/herself that the answer to it all is found in a meme –For everyone, Merciful God, a vision is sought of how justice and kindness can be enfleshed in the human community.Your prophets spoke of a day when hatred and distrust
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 5, 2024A number of years ago, we did a church-wide study of a book by Rev. Michael Slaughter. The book was entitled “Dare to Dream,” and it challenged us to dream a God-sized dream for ourselves and for our church. Recently, I came across a quote by Rev. Slaughter. He said, Imagine a safe space where we can be honest enough to work on our “stuff.”
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 4, 2024Many of you have heard the exciting news about the Church Leadership giving the green light on moving ahead with a new playground. We started a capital campaign more than a decade ago with the hope of paying off old debt, updating our air conditioning units, improving signage, redoing restrooms on the second floor of the Forum Building, and, among other dream items, was a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMay 3, 2024I talked about this subject a couple weeks ago, but I will confess to you that I remain challenged when it comes to finding the right words or some sort of sensible way of talking about the violence between Israel and Gaza, complicated by Hamas, Iran, and other players. And I was looking forward to our Interfaith Prayer Walk that was canceled out of concern