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A few years ago, while wandering through the Old City of Jerusalem, I stumbled upon a spray-painted sign on the side of a small factory building. It called out in English: “We need peace.”
It seemed to me like a modern-day cry of “hosanna” coming from the people of Jerusalem.
Sin is lurking at the door
And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.
Why?
The Gospel of God’s Reign, by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
Johann Christoph Blumhardt and Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, father and son, would be obscure German Lutheran pastors if Karl Barth hadn’t been influenced by them....
Ways to be Lutheran: New churches experiment with polity
Since 2000, nearly 500,000 ELCA members have left to form two new bodies. These churches are organizing themselves along new patterns.
More on pastoral courtesy in Richland County, Wisconsin
My article in the March 19 issue tells the story of Larry Engel and Mike Breininger, two pastors in Richland County, Wisconsin, who were able to bridge a longstanding impasse between conservative and liberal pastors by beginning a conversation about their own theological and political differences. The result? A friendship between two pastors, cooperation among area pastors, and a jumpstart to initiating and sustaining needed community services.
Tolerating Brendan Eich
It's often said that in a tolerance-obsessed culture, everything is tolerated—except intolerance. Actually, this gets said a lot more often than perhaps it should, because being intolerant is not the same sort of thing as being black or female or gay or Muslim. Tolerating people is more fundamental than tolerating their ideas.
Yet tolerating ideas matters, too.
Other people saying things
"The past failure of socialism and the current growing sense that something is amiss in our current economic system should spur us on to consider possibilities associated with a third way—...
Economic boom in Africa
I once presented Africa as a region of extreme poverty, but we now have to take account of economic development. We can only begin to outline the religious consequences.
A time to split? Covenant and schism in the UMC
A growing number of UMC clergy are performing same-sex weddings in open defiance of the Book of Discipline. What happens next?
Creative outlets
Like most of us, I have creative energy. I forget the box in which I’m supposed to fit. I make missteps. I force change and watch the body reject my suggestions like a bad organ implant.
Old growth
When our family lived in western Pennsylvania we had a rather large yard. It was like a magnet for kids in the neighborhood, which was okay with us....
Seasons of faith
Here's the beginning of the church newsletter piece I wrote last week. Read the rest on the Holy Covenant UMC site.
Ten pastoral courtesies
This is a document drafted by Michael Breininger, senior pastor of Richland Center Fellowship in Wisconsin, in his capacity as president of the Richland County Ministerial Association; it was adopted by the RCMA. Read more about the RCMA and the friendship between Breininger and Five Points Lutheran Church pastor Larry Engel in Debra Bendis's article "No Longer Strangers."
Missing in Mexico: The search for Central American migrants
In a caravan of 45 people, mostly mothers looking for their disappeared children, Santos del Socorro Rojas was one of the lucky ones.
Jeff Bethke answers questions about Jesus from American history
How does a college kid produce a Youtube sensation about Jesus that received 27 million hits? And become a New York Times bestselling author with Jesus > Religion: Why He is So Much Better than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough before his 25th birthday?
Jeff Bethke’s breakthrough video, “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus,” resonates with millennial evangelicals.
Does having two jobs make you bivocational?
A few years ago I was interviewing a couple of church planters, and the conversation turned to finances. The husband-and-wife team, Juan and Cirila Lugo, had paid out-of-pocket for many expenses when the congregation began meeting. They were pleased that it had become self-sufficient enough to hire Juan full time. Cirila told me, without a hint of complaint, about writing sermons on her lunch break while she drove a delivery truck six days a week.
But she didn't call herself bivocational, and rightly so.
New song: "Holy Ground"
So, I write church music. (I've probably mentioned this before.) I've made lead sheets and full-band recordings for just one set of songs, my settings of the three Luke canticles. (One of them—Simeon's—is also on this Cardiphonia compliation.) At this point, mostly what I've done is create home demo recordings, playing and singing all the parts myself, some of them better than others.
Here's one I just posted, not a biblical canticle but a song with original lyrics.
Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday, April 13, 2014: Matthew 21:1-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66
How does a crowd turn from shouts of joy to cries of murder in such a short span?
Clergy residences under scrutiny
Bye-bye, Bishop Bling. So long, Pastor Perks. The so-called Francis effect may be real, at least when it comes to clerical housing, and could be coming to a church near you....