Two days after Raymond Bailey’s death on the First Sunday of Advent, I talked about him at my church staff meeting. I told the staff how Raymond taught me to preach, showed me how to be a minister and pushed…
I didn’t have to be here and other existential truths
The cool cat, bird dog, James Dean wanna-be posing behind my mother thinks he has it made in the shade. The photo is dated “Mar 1954.” My mom first wrote “My boyfriend and I” on the back, but then, a…
It’s tough being a pastor on World Hunger Sunday, but it’s harder to be hungry
In order to keep the senior minister from becoming popular, Plymouth Church observes World Hunger Day on the second Sunday of October each year. We sing hunger hymns none of us like. We add hunger to the list of prayer…
To Whom It May Concern: I am writing this recommendation letter …
Every once in a while, I get an email from someone whose church has decided God is calling their minister somewhere else. My former student has taken the hint and needs a recommendation letter. Most of his seminary professors do…
Going to church in Schmigadoon!
My gal loves corn puddin’ She eats it constantly Sometimes I get to wondering Does she love it more than me? My guy loves corn puddin’ I got the recipe So if he wants my puddin’ He’ll have to marry…
‘Frederick Buechner, meet Mary Lou Wells’
Frederick Buechner famously defined vocation when he wrote, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” He explained, “The kind of work God usually calls you to is the…
The pillow that keeps me up at night
No one should suffer because of a pain in the neck. Six years ago, I woke up every morning with a stiff neck. I tried exercises and heating pads. I took a few Aleves. I bought a new pillow and…
It’s time to live like mystics
I spent the pandemic lamenting things I could not do — no restaurants, no movie theaters, no museums. I was excited when I got to go back to my favorite Mexican place, the neighborhood movie theater and the Metropolitan Museum…
Rethinking Mother’s Day
If you Google “Mother’s Day” looking for a gift your mother might actually like — this could be the year to move past the needlepoint pillow that says “Home is where the Mom is” to a promise to let her…