In the aftermath of the midterm elections, I was speaking recently with a member of my extended family. As with many families, mine is “split.” My relatives and I share blood and histories and memories, recipes, holiday meals and inside jokes. But we do not...
I have been in church all my life. That means, among other things, that there are certain scriptures that I have heard, read and studied dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Yet one of the fun and significant aspects of scripture is that no matter...
My Faith Story...
If you know me at all – and especially if you have been in ministry with me – you’ve heard me say that the model of leaving the faith development of children completely up to the church is flawed and out of date. Flawed for...
Have you ever had a day that goes nothing at all like you planned? Not a single thing that you thought you were going to accomplish gets done. At bedtime, your “to do” list looks exactly like it did at breakfast. That’s the kind of...
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. I doubt it could have slipped your mind, as the greeting card companies and florists spend a lot of advertising dollars making sure we don’t forget it. But, just in case, consider yourself duly notified. There are a lot of reasons...
As is our custom, the Sunday after Easter is Be the Kingdom Sunday at Calvary. The entire church gathers for worship at the normal time and place, but then disperses in groups to serve our community. We worship that day by being the church, being...
Over the past several months, we have been introducing four “keys” to nurturing the faith of your children and grandchildren. Experts in the field of faith development have honed in on four practices that, when embedded into your family’s routines, will help parents to notice...
In three days the Church will celebrate Palm Sunday which launches us into Holy Week. Holy Week, in turn, propels us through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday to the pinnacle of the church year, Easter Sunday. I love Easter, and I am particularly...
On Sunday I have the unenviable task of preaching about the torture and humiliation that Jesus endured as he neared his death on the cross. The purpose of crucifixion—Rome’s “go to” method of execution for would-be “messiahs”—wasn’t just to kill the victim. It was to...