I got this in the e-mail via Dave McIntyre today. I’ve seen it before, but it still makes me laugh… On the Difference Between Praise Choruses and Hymns A man accustomed to a mainline church went to a seekers’ service one Sunday. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. “Well,” he […]
I just checked the results for Hugo Schwyzer at the Catalina Marathon and he came in 121st over all, and 13th in his age group. Way to go Hugo! I’ll live vicariously through your efforts. 🙂
I’ve just posted a reflection question at the multicultural church site (www.vividchurch.com). I would appreciate your checking out this site and posting as you feel led.
Finker offers a some great comments in my previous post. He raises in particular the ambiguity around membership responsibilities and privileges. I grew up in the 1960’s, a disciple of a decentralized notion of power and authority. As a good United Methodist pastor, I practice an open table, welcoming all to participate in the sacraments. […]
One of the mantras of both the church growth movement and the emerging church movement is that the old notion of membership is dead. Folks are interested in joining the church, these folks tell us. It seems like an outdated notion to be a “member” of a congregation. And so “growing churches” like Church of […]
I met this morning with the group of guys that I gather with weekly for breakfast at Noshville. It’s an eclectic group — another pastor, a sex educator, a health care attorney, and a writer. I’ve been meeting with this group for some three years now, and it’s a safe space where we can talk […]
I’m not going to San Diego for the Emergent Convention there. I felt like I couldn’t justify the trip, and I needed instead to focus on the one here at home in Nashville in May. But I just checked the weather in San Diego — sunny and in the 70’s all week. It figures. When […]
Jordon sent me to this article by Brian McLaren on The Movie hype: It’s found at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2004/cln40309.html I like this paragraph: Our world is torn by ethnic, class, and religious hatred. Don’t show the emerging culture a movie about Jesus: show them a movement of people living like Jesus—people who like him love the different, […]
I was rereading Henri Nouwen’s wonderful little book “In The Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership” today as I worked on my sermon. These words jumped out at me: It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and […]
Rudy and I were playing around one night on AIM when we started talking about the recent thread at the Emergent site on People of Color and the Emerging Church. Like many right brained creative types, we began to think about possibilities for furthering the conversation. It’s important to know the context of my ministry. […]
Has anyone noticed that the Typepad blogs load really slowly during business hours? What’ up with that?
Rudy has linked to a Newsweek article on “The Passion” phenomenon. Since I am declaring a moratorium on all writings on The Movie, I won’t comment on the specifics of the article, even when the Christian marketing expert calls evangelical Christianity “the new gay” (hey, I’m not making this up). Of course, some of the […]
We had a bit of a conflict today at the church, and I confess that I didn’t deal with it well. In fact, I lost my temper a bit. Of course, there are all sorts of ways I could justify this. I was tired. I was trying to watch my kids, train our new offering […]
Well The Lord of the Rings already has five Oscars, and there’s still a lot more night to go. Is anyone surprised?
Since everyone in the blogosphere seems to be putting in their two cents about The Passion, and since folks in my church have been asking, I suppose I should share my reflections on the movie now that I’ve seen it. I hesitate a bit. Movies like this one are better left to roll around in […]
I was going through some old files tonight and came upon this meditation I wrote on community several years ago. I like it (I think) and share it with you: Community is a phrase that is easily thrown about in the church today. All manner of preachers, theologians, philosophers, social theorists, biblical scholars, and even […]
…people generally do not adopt a set of beliefs called “Christianity” and then pick out a church in which to express them. People become “Christian” by practicing a variety of activities enriched by traditions and cultures of the faithful across the generations — worshipping, singing, praying, eating, reading scripture, visiting the sick, helping the needy. […]
“Cats ignite, but luckily there’s grace… Anne Lamott
“From our neighbor comes life or death. If we win over our brother or sister, then we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother and sister, we have sinned against Christ.”
. . . but I’m too busy. Aaaagggghhh!
only wonder understands