Last week I wrote about the ongoing challenges we face as individuals and as a congregation to meet the needs of our neighbors. It just so happened that after I wrote that post, two additional incidents occurred. One of them involved a middle-aged man who...
Today I encountered a situation that comes up frequently for most anyone in my line of work and in fact, for most anyone who pays attention to people and cares about the dignity and well-being of others. The door bell of the church rang not...
“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” This is the opening line of Isaiah 55, a poetic, poignant, powerful chapter of the Old Testament writing ascribed to the prophet Isaiah. The chapter is an invitation to Israel to enjoy life with God which is marked by...
This past weekend I spent two days in the dirt. On Friday I planted flower pots, pruned bushes, mowed the grass, put down mulch, and declared the deck “open for business” after hanging baskets and pots were moved into place. On Saturday I worked on...
For the past month I have been preaching about the Church and simultaneously, I have been experiencing church in ways that have left me speechless with wonder and delight. Last week I wrote about the myriad celebrations that had occurred in my community—a wedding, an...
Are you ever so excited or happy or overjoyed that you think you might burst? The weekend just past was like that at Calvary. A wedding, a third-grader receiving a Bible, voting on new Elders, celebrating Calvary’s 70th birthday, participating in the ordination of one...
I have a confession to make: I have lost my way, and it is time to come home again. Around the first of the year I shared that while I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, per se, I do often have a focus or theme for...
Taking the point is a phrase often associated with the military tactic of an individual or small group advancing ahead of a larger unit. If the unit is in unfamiliar territory, the point may function as a scout who finds the best route for others...
In the Old Testament, Joshua 3 records the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The crossing occurs at harvest time, when the river routinely overflows its banks. The people will have to cross the swollen waters, a detail that...
What did you, could you think as they pounded through your open palms forcing coarse, bloody iron nail to sink deep into the splintered wood? Did you feel the grasp of panic, that sudden, stomach-wrenching sense that this, at the very last, is it no further chance of changing, turning back? Were...