Many of you in the emerging world are familiar with Will Willimon. He has been a regular feature at the National Pastor's Convention and gets around in evangelical circles a bit. Will was just elected to be a Bishop in the Southeast Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. There's no word on where he will … Continue reading Methodist Stuff →

I am monitoring the United Methodist Jurisdictional Conference election of Bishops. Check out the latest updates at http://www.methoblog.com.

Distance from a culture must never denegrate into a flight from that culture but must be a way of living in a culture. --Miroslav Volf in Exclusion and Embrace

Sam Carrasco, Rudy's son, has been diagnosed with leukemia. Rudy is the director of the Harambee Center in Pasadena, the successor to John Perkins. He's also a friend who I connect with via the internet. Jen Lemen is working to raise funds to help Rudy and Kafi with medical expenses. If you can help, go … Continue reading Prayers and Cash Needed →

I have generally stayed away from political machinations on this blog for quite a while. At least one of my regular readers noted that they didn't like when I wrote on politics, and I have honored her request for the most part. I imagine all sorts of reasons for her concern, such as my left … Continue reading Being Political →

My wonderful. amazing, and pretty cool administrative assistant keeps asking me when I'm going to start an "emerging service" at our church. The issue of starting another service has been bumping around in my head for quite a while. Some of this is the remnant of the church growth gurus echoing in my head that … Continue reading Emerging Worship →

Maggi Dawn posted today a reflection on the process of birthing women into ministry that moved me. I wanted to leave the following comment on her site, but the space limitations of Haloscan wouldn't let me. So here it is Maggi. Rev./Dr. Maggi, You are, of course, just a girl, with all the wonder and … Continue reading A Message for Maggi →

Bob Carlton just sent me an email listing his favorite songs of summer, including the fact that Janet Jackson was his first concert. This set me thinking about my first concerts and my memories of summer songs. I have written about this before, but my first concert was at the ripe old age of 8 … Continue reading Music of My Past →

Yesterday was a glorious day. James Cole and a bunch of his family invited us to join them on Center Hill Lake for the day. We drove up early and rented a pontoon boat and a jet ski for a day on the lake. Center Hill is a great lake -- clean and quiet and … Continue reading 108912650061056765 →

I've been really struggling the past few days to get the energy to write again. Oh, I've been doing the sermon thing -- that monster never really goes away. It's my other writing that has been a struggle -- posts here, e-mail newsletters for the church, all those various and sundry things that filled my … Continue reading Trying To Write →

I was hanging out in the Church of Fools for a few minutes where I came upon two folks from Nashville. One was a friend and former parishioner from my old church, and the other was an on-line friend of his from Madison. The funny thing was that the friend knew all about me from … Continue reading Bizarre Happenstance →

I just chatted with the world famous Tall Skinny Kiwi in the Boaz Louge on the Habbo Hotel. Cool and fun technology, but the best part was him trying to get his 11 year old daughter to go to virtually go to bed. I could use a little dose of virtual parenting!

http://jayssermons.blogspot.com/2004/06/encountering-jesus-possessed-by-god.html

http://jayssermons.blogspot.com/2004/06/encountering-jesus-possessed-by-god.html

This morning, as I made my usual trip through my favorite blogs, I tripped into Maggi's world. One of the good things about being 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time is that it allows our British friends to have their cup of tea and put together a good declarative sentence in time for my morning … Continue reading Planning Worship →

I should be working on my sermon, but of course that is too logical, so I will write some unrelated words which will hopefully spark the creative juices. I'm in my office at the church, having just completed my third wedding in the past several months. As weddings go, this was a simple one. There … Continue reading Reflections on Weddings →

Sally and Jay Rogers are former parishioners, and now good friends. I was lucky to be their pastor during the adoption of their son Ian, and presided at an "Entrustment Ceremony" between the Rogers and the birth mom. Their adoption was facilitated by Miriam's Promise, the adoption and family planning ministry of the TN Annual … Continue reading A Blatant Plug for Sally and Jay →

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Murfreesboro, TN waiting for my turn in the shower. We're here this week so that Kay and I can attend the gathering of the Tennessee Annual Conference of the UMC, the regional organization of our denomination to which our clergy membership belongs. Grace is with us, but in … Continue reading Ordinary Time, Part 1 →

Jen Lemen's post for today is beautiful, and contains as much truth as any of the scriptures. Several months ago I posted on serving as a pastor to an aging congregation, and the meaning of funerals for me. Jen begins to get at the reality of that existence in her story. There is something sacred … Continue reading Life in the Midst of Death →

It feels like a theme for the week is arrogant Christian certainty. It began with an email from a friend who had been beat up at the church she's been attending. She is someone who is beginning to question some of the assumptions of the conservative, evangelical world that she had been brought up in, … Continue reading Christians Make Me Angry →