Before attending seminary, I worked for several summers as a truck driver. Later it dawned on me that truckers and clergy travel a similar metaphoric highway.
For some reason, going to a funeral and gathering in a cemetery
doesn't serve us as it once did. People find satisfaction in erecting
crosses along the public way.
The New START treaty between the U.S. and Russia lowers the number of permitted nuclear warheads by approximately 30 percent. That is still too many, but it is an important step.
"We have rejected much of our immediate [evangelical] past," says Josh Carney of his church, University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Looking to older traditions, "we found that some of our objections had already been addressed."
My old office was above a soup kitchen, and its clients regularly came in to ask for money. Eventually I began interrupting each visitor's story by sliding a 20-dollar bill across my desk—a toll I paid so I could return to my work.
The war in Afghanistan is not the only conflict that should end. The whole notion of war as a response to jihadism ought to be junked—and the sooner the better.
"Most Americans would like to see people take care of their own business.
On the other hand, most Americans
don't like to see tanks crush unarmed crowds."
Among the thoughts that course through my brain when I'm supposed to be
focusing on my breathing are thoughts about worship. Being a newcomer to
yoga has prompted me to reflect on what it is like to be new to
one of our services.
With William Willimon set to retire as bishop of the North Alabama Conference in
2012, it is appropriate to consider how the Willimon experiment in the
episcopacy has turned out. It has not been business
as usual.
Most churches still
approach membership the way they did in the 1960s. But if new modes of affiliation are
appearing, churches will need new ways of thinking about membership.
When House of Mercy began in 1996, most attendees weren’t interested in formal membership. In 2008, the church joined the ELCA—which requires congregations to keep a member roll.
The Episcopal Church is in the position of striving to be both fully inclusive at home and a
fully accountable part of the Anglican Communion. Can this seeming
paradox be resolved?
Who really wants to lead a balanced life? The times I've been
happiest—when I was raising young children or consumed with a project—my
life has been decidedly out of balance.