Select Page

Wobbly without Training Wheels

I’ll soon finish my third year of fulltime teaching at Mars Hill University.  I’m still surprised and grateful that, after nearly four decades in congregational ministry, I have the opportunity to do this work. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be giving and...

On Limits

I get confused about limits.  I place them where they’re not necessary and ignore them where they matter.On the one hand, I needlessly limit the range of my imagination, the breadth of my curiosity, the reach of my compassion, and the scale of my hope. On...

Gratitude and Faith, Holy Week Reflections

This past Good Friday and Holy Saturday, I received the manifold gifts of worship at All Souls Cathedral. I longed for the liturgies of those days to enfold, unsettle, guide, and, ultimately, gladden me. They did. I needed to be in a community of seekers, of...

We Haven’t Heard from You in a While

I’ve not written much lately, and a few of you have asked, “Are you okay? We haven’t heard from you in a while.”The easiest explanation is that time has been scarce. Teaching at the university, serving as Transitional Pastor at a local church, and working on a few...

A Long Lent and Easter Always

The season of Lent became more deeply significant to me in 2014.Most folks who read my reflections know that, on Ash Wednesday of that year (March 5), I began treatment for recently-diagnosed Multiple Myeloma. The insidious cancer itself, the powerful drugs I’ve taken...

Character: Primary Realm of Change

Character is the primary arena of change. We can’t change the DNA we inherited, the circumstances into which we were born, or the families which shaped and misshaped us, or the wounding events we’ve undergone. Some things about our bodies, temperaments, and minds are...

Magnetic Vision of the Change we Hope For

(This is longer than my usual posts; if I had time, I would make it shorter!)Change is possible, but not if we try to do it on our own.In an earlier post, I identified some of the factors which combine to make change more likely:emotional-spiritual energy from beyond...

The Possibility of Change

When Anita and I were in seminary, we served a small and loving congregation in southern Indiana. One of our next-door neighbors, a generous man in his late fifties and a faithful member of the church, was crustily cynical about the possibility of change.  At...

The Politics of Christmas

Even though we lose track of in the glitter and sweetness of our celebrations, Christmas is intensely and insistently political. It’s about who’s in charge.Jesus was born in an occupied land and under the shadow of Rome’s Emperor. It was his decree that Mary and...

Feeling Like Christmas? A Confession and a Distinction

I’m allergic to sentimentality.I break-out in heart-hives when I brush up against counted-cross stitch samplers of motivational quotes, with greeting cards that feature babies, puppies, kittens, and balloons, and with rhyming love poems printed on a pastel background...