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Context, Context, Context
Yesterday at Arlington, we explored the last "episode" in the great narrative arc of the Bible by exploring the Book of Revelation in its historical context and pondering what it has to say to us as we...
View ArticleThe UMC Speaks on Health Care
I have to admit I was quite surprised yesterday when I saw that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (what some call "Obamacare") in its entirety. During my lifetime, many of the landmark...
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The Most Interesting Pastor in the World
Lately I've been noticing more and more gray hair on my head and in my beard, and the rate at which they appear seems to be increasing.On the one hand, this is encouraging, because receding hairlines...
View ArticleCrackhouse Church?
Pete Rollins, as he often does, delivers a simultaneously scathing and inviting critique of church. I have an article that will be on Ministry Matters later this week making a similar critique of or...
View ArticleShameless Self Promotion- Mission Trip Edition
My latest article, "Mission Trip High: Keeping it Going or Leaving it There" is up on Ministry Matters.In it, I question the idea of "bringing it home" from a mission trip or conference experience and...
View ArticleThe Desert of Compassion
Here's a word I needed today:What is my new desert? The name of it is compassion. There is no wilderness so terrible, so beautiful, so arid and so fruitful as the wilderness of compassion. It is the...
View ArticleThe Higgs Boson Parable
On Sunday I preached a sermon about parables, expanding the idea beyond just the stories that Jesus told and saying that the Bible, and really all of life, are parables in that they point to a reality...
View ArticleComparing Denominational Gatherings
Taylor Burton Edwards posted a really interesting piece over on emergingUMC contrasting the Episcopal Church's recently wrapped-up General Convention with the United Methodist Church's most recent...
View ArticleHurt People Hurt People
Thought for the day, courtesy of Thich Nhat HanhWhen another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he...
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Embarrassing Christians
When I see stories in the news about a pastor or televangelist proclaiming that God sent a hurricane or earthquake to punish someone on their personal enemies list, or when whether one buys a chicken...
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Podcast Catch-up
After several weeks of slacking, we're finally caught up on the Arlington UMC Podcast, which is hosted for us by the good folks at sermon.net.One recent sermon is about God's call for us to care for...
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9/11, 11 Years Later
There are, of course, no shortage of words on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and I don't know how much of value I can add to the discourse, but I'll give it a shot by sharing...
View ArticlePlaying in "The Cooper"
Next week I'll be playing in the Mary Cooper Golf Challenge to raise money for Miriam's Promise.I've barely picked up my golf clubs in the last year, and even before that my game wasn't too great, so...
View ArticleRomney and Obama on Poverty
I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I finally watched the videos that President Obama and Governor Romney made addressing questions from the Circle of Protection on what they are/will be doing...
View ArticleShameless Self Promotion- "Some People" Edition
I published a new piece on Ministry Matters today about dealing with unattributed comments or concerns that pastors receive second hand. I invented a character called Pastor Smith and put her in a...
View ArticleMentoring Matters- part of the MinistryMatters.com "Ministers Matter" blog tour
Note- this piece was originally a chapter in Beyond the Burning Bush: Hearing and Answering God's Call, which was published by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist...
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Mental Illness Awareness Week
October 7-13 is National Mental Illness Awareness Week. It was created in 1990 by an act of Congress to raise awareness that mental illness is real, not just "an excuse for people who are too weak to...
View ArticleShameless Self Promotion- Sacramental Podcast Edition
Earlier this week, Jessica and I recorded a podcast for Ministry Matters addressing the question of what is absolutely necessary in the liturgy of Holy Communion, and what is overkill and can make the...
View ArticleA Saint in the Shadows
I haven't posted lately on the blog because between normal sermon writing, preparations for Advent and Christmas (including Arlington's Advent Devotional, which will be online next week), and a couple...
View ArticleSpiritual Poverty
This morning I came across a very interesting thought from Thomas Merton:The life of Christ in the soul of the priest depends in large measure on the priest's attitude toward the "needy and the poor"-...
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