Christmas Eve Worship We pulled off the Christmas Eve service tonight with only a few hitches. Of course, the wireless mic that I had put out for the kids to read into didn't work, which confirms my belief that wireless microphones never work. But, all seemed to take it in stride and we had a … Continue reading 107232776334279685 →

Christmas Eve as a Pastor Here is what I've done so far today:    -Went to the local paper supply warehouse to get special paper for a funeral bulletin that I will need on the 26th.    -Came back to the church and unloaded the paper from the van.    -Printed and folded 140 funeral bulletins.    -Went to … Continue reading 107228591445120836 →

I Hate Christmas I know it's anathema for someone to admit disliking Christmas. It's even worse for someone in ministry, since throughout much of the season of Advent, we're trying to infuse a sense of meaning into the event. And yet, for me, it's true. Let me say here at the beginning that it's not … Continue reading 107166238083829332 →

The People's Church There is a church over in the Franklin area that I hear advertisements for all the time on the local Christian radio station. It's called "The People's Church." Now I confess that I don't know much about this church. I haven't visited. I know that it is formerly a First Baptist Church … Continue reading 107148970655420401 →

Political Musings I've haven't been doing much political thinking here, but I confess that I've been struggling with how to respond to the capture of Sadaam Hussein yessterday. When I awoke, I turned on the TV to check the weather, only to find myself at the beginning of the news conference in Iraq. I was … Continue reading 107148850770897927 →

Waking Up In A New World I was re-reading a bit of Tom Frank's "The Soul of the Congregation" and came upon the following quote on ethnography: I've always wondered what it's like for a housefly who comes on board a plane. Enjoying with the rest of us the life-saving benefit of the air pressure … Continue reading 107109549932392823 →

The Politics of Emerging James K. A Smith offers a powerful critique on the "emerging church" movement at The Ooze: For the last few years, our family was a member of an inner-city church in Los Angeles: a community of incredible ethnic and socio-economic diversity with an effective outreach to former gang members from crews … Continue reading 107045425124072730 →

Thinking About Preaching I continue to struggle with my preaching. Oh, I think I jump through the hoops okay on Sunday morning. The comments are good. People are nice. Folks seem to be inspired by what I'm saying. Within my tradition and location, I'm a pretty decent preacher I think. And yet, I feel like … Continue reading 107043124101742363 →

Brian McLaren Website I first encountered Brian McLaren by accident. I wasn't familiar with his writings when I attended a workshop at Lake Junaluska on life in the postmodern matrix. I went because Len Sweet was speaking, and frankly I was (surprisingly) unimpressed with Len. But then this balding, ex-hippy type came out and began … Continue reading 107033754272869726 →

Matrix Revolution I just came from seeing the new Matrix movie. It was a bit predictible. The action and effects were good, but the story line was a bit too messianic in nature for my taste. As for the philosophical ramblings, I think the first movie was the best (thinking about the nature of reality). … Continue reading 106810115094397139 →

I'm Not Sure The Saints Were Cheering This morning was one of those Sundays were worship was a real struggle. I'm sure that many folks were unaware of the stress I was feeling during worship, but Lord knows, it was not one of my finer days in ministry. I was hoping for a different service … Continue reading 106780514555938503 →

Good Night Mike Yaconelli Mike Yaconelli, the founder of Youth Specialties and The Wittenberg Door magazine, died last night in a car wreck near his home in Yreka, CA. Mike maintained a strong influence on my ministry. He demonstrated that leaders could be real, recognizing that faith in Jesus Christ is messy and dangerous. At … Continue reading 106757431745467849 →

I met tonight with the Finance Committee of our church to look over the budget for 2004. I continue to be reminded in these settings how much I dislike the institutional nature of the church, even while knowing it's a necessary evil. The meeting was fine, with good questions raised and good thoughts arising. But … Continue reading 106757397263934972 →

Doug Pagitt makes an interesting comment on his blog regarding the tyranny of the holiday season in influencing our thoughts on Jesus ( PAGITTblog), that is after he finishes his rant on phone messages. Doug suggests that the emphasis by churches on the high holy days of Christmas and Easter limits our focus in such … Continue reading PAGITTblog →

Heading Toward All Saints Those of us who live in the more traditional, liturgical tradition are anticipating our All Saints worship this weekend. My personal tradition in the congregations that I serve is to observe All Saint's on the Sunday following the 1st. This Sunday, we'll be gathering for communion and remembering those in our … Continue reading 106739724379560359 →

It's amazing how quickly 10 days can go by. Oy!

I suppose I ought to move out of my rut in writing about dancing, but it clears the brain, so I will go on. Why is faith like dance? Obviously, there are some interesting parallels between the church and contra dance groups. But beyond that, I think the faith life intersects with Contra Dancing in … Continue reading The Dance of Faith — Part 7 →

Back to the dance theme. Every dance is led by a caller (or callers) who selects the dances for the evening, teaches the dances, and then prompts (calls) during the first few rounds of music. The caller is most always an accomplished dancer who has a good sense of time. The natural sense of time … Continue reading The Dance of Faith — Part 6 →

Well, it went right back to church stuff. How interesting.

Some day I'll get around to ordering the ad-free version of blogspot. Actually, I've tried, but their ordering system always seems to be down for upgrading. Anyway, I'm getting a kick out of the customized ads sponsored by Google. The software analyzes key words in my posts and then tailors ads based on what I'm … Continue reading 106426774420894750 →