Note: This series on The Church as it is presented in Acts seeks to: (A) examine the character and praxis of the first church, (B) apply lessons from the first church to the contemporary church and (C) gain a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between discipleship, church life and leadership. This examination is inspired by the many church leaders who espouse the “Acts 2 … Continue reading The Acts 1 Church
My 5 favorite items of the past week and why I like them. My Take: Read the Bible, even if you don’t believe in it, CNN Belief Blog. I love this appreciative take on scripture: how it opens up meaning in other venues of life, how it illuminates the conundrums in life, how it calls us to think for ourselves. Church reaches out after shooting, … Continue reading Friday 5: Favorite Posts
April 22 is an odd day this year. Some have made the link between Good Friday and Earth Day. Some have said ‘Please don’t‘. Complicating matters for me, personally, is the fact that my daughter’s first birthday just happens to be April 22, 2011. We will celebrate A.’s birthday on Saturday. It’s not that Good Friday is a bad time to conserve energy, commit to … Continue reading Because Lent is NOT about Social Justice
My Eastertide children’s message series will be “Why Church?” wherein the purposes and practices of the church are explored and explained. I have a brother and sister that absolutely love Holy Communion. They call it ‘bread time’. As they kneel at the altar, they look up and smile. Their enthusiasm always leads me to give them a big piece. I wish we had bigger cups. … Continue reading Why Church?
I love both Creation stories, and I value their collective introduction to the story of redemption that is the Holy Bible. I think that the Creation vs. Evolution debate totally clouds over the rhythmic, poetic nature of Genesis 1 and the earthy, intimate depiction of YHWH and adam in Genesis 2. I think that the nature of the stories push the ‘how’ question to the … Continue reading Parallelism in Genesis 2-3
The Joy of Teaching I have really begun to flourish in teaching ministry. Much of the credit belongs to engaged students. Also, I am teaching topics that I am interested in (a class on Prayer using Richard Foster’s Prayer and a class on Genesis, which I designed myself). Early on in my ministry, I got pegged as an intellectual, which makes me laugh. I really … Continue reading Trust Me…I Went to Seminary
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. (Eccl. 1:9) Why I Missed the Leadership Summit I didn’t make the Leadership Summit. I wrote it down on my calendar, set my phone to go bezerk at the right time and even thought about getting close to wi-fi (which does not exist in … Continue reading The Best Way to Save the Church is to Keep Doing What We’ve Always Done
Don’t hold your tongue when there’s truth to say. Don’t clench your fist when there’s mercy to give. Don’t throw your boots off when there’s horses to hay. Don’t lay on the couch when there’s life to live. Don’t make excuses for failing to love. Don’t say no to walks on the beach. Don’t overlook the slightest move. Don’t keep loved-ones out of reach. Don’t … Continue reading G’night Little Girl, Don’t Be Like Daddy
Lately, I have really enjoyed the teaching ministries in my charge. We have a covenant group reading Richard Foster’s classic Prayer. The participants are smart and curious, a real treat to be with. This week we also began an afternoon study on Genesis. I was delightfully surprised by the number of participants. It is very encouraging to take the time to prepare a lesson and … Continue reading The Teaching Church
We could digitize and codify baptismal records. That way, only certified Christians can use this ‘Christians-only’ internet. We can establish standards for when someone backslides…kind of like points on your driver’s license. Accumulate enough points and one has to exit the ‘online universal church’ and perform penance to be allowed back in. We can anoint online priests to hear confessions and pronounce absolution for said … Continue reading We Need a Christians-Only Internet
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