ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS May 1, 2026 Last year, I didn’t get my tomato plants in the ground early enough, and though I saw a few tomatoes in early June, my plants were nearly dead by mid-June. The heat was simply too much. It’s about timing, though the weather does have a lot to do with it, especially if the brutal heat holds off until mid-July. This year, I planted
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 30, 2026 In yesterday’s Etching, I talked about gratitude, specifically for those things we may not even see. Well, today, I want to give thanks for something we can see, though not necessarily a “thing,” but a person. I want to give thanks for Rev. Dr. Amber Mattingly, who served as our Interim Youth Minister. To be honest, I needed someone who could step in,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 29, 2026 I was sitting at the airport yesterday waiting for my flight back to Houston when I saw a man with a guide dog, though he was also being assisted by an airline employee. It was a beautiful dog, and it got me to thinking about the gift that a four-legged friend has been to that individual. Moments later, I opened my computer and,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 28, 2026 I’m in Indianapolis for the semiannual Board Meeting of the Christian Church Foundation. It is an extraordinarily talented and amazingly smart group of people, both staff and other board members. I sort of feel like the amateur in the room, though folks are very kind in explaining things. The Christian Church Foundation (CCF) helps people do good things with their money. It currently
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 27, 2026 Rev. Katelin Jordan shared the following from the Communion Table at Contemporary yesterday. And though not technically a prayer, I found the words to be stirring and thoughtful. Long ago our ancestors knew love’s power and they became the tellers of love’s tale. Love bound them in covenant, teaching them to live in community with compassion and concern for the poorest among them.
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 26, 2026 For those of us who follow Jesus, we are the body of Christ. We claim this title, not for the purpose of hunkering down and protecting ourselves, but for the simple reason that we are called to be the body of Christ. If this is a claim we believe, then we must look to Jesus as the one who defines what that actually
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 25, 2026 You are going to be hearing more about it in the weeks to come, but we will need to replace the flat roof above the Activity Room. As you have seen over the years, it has leaks. Long story, but before I arrived at the church, that roof was replaced… but replaced incorrectly (the company went out of business almost immediately). So we’ve
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 24, 2026 In our staff meeting here at the church yesterday, we had a discussion around forgiveness. We focused on a couple of passages from scripture, including Ephesians 4:32, “…be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” The question I put before the staff sounded like a simple one, but I don’t think anyone found it to
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 23, 2026 Shortly before the flood narrative in Genesis, there is a passage that often stops people in their tracks. In Genesis 6:1-4, we find these words… When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair, and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS April 22, 2026 Outside of a couple of breaks during the year, a group of men gathers every Wednesday at noon to review the list of Joys & Concerns, to pray, and often do a short study. As I continue to remind people, Men’s Ministries tend to have a lifecycle, usually less than ten years. That’s not to say that something new won’t emerge, but in