Jun 9, 2014 | church, Monday Muse
In my neighborhood, a handful of churches faithfully announce their pastors’ weekly sermon titles on outdoor signs. These are mainline Protestant churches (names obscured to protect the innocent, lol), and their sermon titles are generally fine —...
May 5, 2014 | church, justice, Monday Muse, worship
Oh my, but the Revised Common Lectionary readings for this coming Sunday resonate with me like fingernails down a chalkboard! Today’s Monday Muse for your worship preparation is less encouragement and more caution: beware the pitfalls of easy ecclesiology, of...
Mar 22, 2014 | church, Lent, prayer
“After Paul and Barnabas had appointed elders in each church, with prayer and fasting the whole community entrusted them to the LORD in whom they had come to believe.” Let us pray for the elders of the church: May the priests and pastors, deacons and...
Jan 24, 2014 | church, ministry
I miss the congregation I pastored. I miss the space and the voices, the community as a whole and the congregants individually. Sometimes I wonder how the church is doing. Sometimes my throat tightens with loss and I have to distract myself before crying. The loss...
Dec 16, 2013 | Christmas, church, Easter, Monday Muse
Today’s “Monday Muse” may be less a muse that inspires worship creativity and more a muse that encourages thoughtfulness and conversation; this reflection is cross-posted on The Huffington Post. For the first time in more than a decade, I am not...
Nov 20, 2013 | church, comfort, images of God, lament
[the Body is God’s love incarnate] I miss your Body. Not any general Body but your very particular Body. I miss the way your Body smells — your Sunday morning coffee fragrance, the fresh flowers you set out for every season, the incense of bread and wine...
