Five Years In: My Journey with Cancer

by | Mar 24, 2019 | Uncategorized

I don’t usually write about my experiences with Multiple Myeloma and its treatment on this site. Most often, I post those kinds of updates and reflections on my CaringBridge site. Recently, though, I had the opportunity to speak with a blood cancer support group...

I Don’t Know . . . and I Know

by | Feb 24, 2019 | Uncategorized

I don’t know how best to respond to the divisions and alienations of our common life, whether in the public square, faith-communities, or families. What do embodying love and working for peace look, sound, and feel like in our troubled and tumultuous times? How can...

Recovering the Questions

by | Jan 22, 2019 | Uncategorized

About four years ago, my tenure as pastor of a remarkable and challenging congregation ended. It was time. For a year, I’d undergone extensive treatment for cancer, and there were more drugs, pain, and fatigue to come. I couldn’t do the work of pastoral ministry in...

Tuning-in Again and at Last

by | Jan 8, 2019 | Uncategorized

Given my work—writing, teaching, and preaching—I do a lot of talking, either on paper, on a screen, in a classroom, or in a worship space. A lot of talking. Last fall, I spent 13 hours a week in class, preached every week, and taught occasional classes or seminars for...

Ministry and the Gifts of Christmas

by | Dec 26, 2018 | Uncategorized

Among the myriad gifts of Christmas are: Assurance that God is with us—“Emmanuel.” God is not aloof from us or disinterested in us—not, as Bette Midler once sang, merely “watching us from a distance.” God is among us and for us. Clarity about the character of God. God...