By Jerrod Hugenot Around this time of year, we celebrate graduations. From kindergarten to grad school, family members gather round the graduate to affirm an achievement. Whether it is the high school graduation or the hooding of a newly minted…
Geeking out at a new hymnal
By Jerrod Hugenot Years ago, I remember watching Star Trek: The Next Generation where the Starfleet crew moved about the USS Enterprise with hand-held data pads (technically spelled “padds” on the show). From these pads, one could access the ship’s…
Odd behavior: Nonviolence, loving enemies and the Sermon on the Mount
By Jerrod Hugenot The Revised Common Lectionary is visiting parts of the Sermon on the Mount as it guides worshippers through this year. Here’s a thought on one section of this major teaching in Matthew’s Gospel: The teaching of “do…
A season to prepare
By Jerrod Hugenot Perhaps like you, I find myself somewhere between the heady rush of the season’s good tidings and the weighty counterpoint of reality.” How does one navigate the “Christmas season” while admitting that it’s a difficult time for…
Discernment
By Jerrod Hugenot It’s not the easiest sell in a fast-moving, “decision now” type world, yet I would hazard God speaks most clearly to us when we allow ourselves to ponder and more importantly listen attentively. Over the past few…
See where it takes you
By Jerrod Hugenot Over the years, I have heard the persistent worry of the sinking of the American Baptist Churches USA and its other mainline Protestant counterparts. Since the mid-1960s, “decline” has been shaping the narrative we tell ourselves and…
See where it takes you
By Jerrod Hugenot Over the years, I have heard the persistent worry of the sinking of the American Baptist Churches USA and its other mainline Protestant counterparts. Since the mid-1960s, “decline” has been shaping the narrative we tell ourselves and…
The good ‘other’
By Jerrod Hugenot The parable itself is quite unique. In fact, among all of the parables Jesus told as recorded in the four Gospels, this particular parable is one of only four that those who study such things classify as…