On] Writing: shitty first drafts. Butt in chair. Just do it. You own everything that happened to you. You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves in your heart–your…
Do churches allow space for us to interact with God?
There is no lack of information in a Christian land; something else is lacking, and this is something which the one man cannot directly communicate to the other. Soren Kierkegaard Our job as pastors is to create space for people…
Good guys and bad guys
We were sitting in the car killing time. It was the lull between dropping my oldest child off at kindergarten and preparing to take my youngest to preschool. The doors hadn’t opened yet. I pulled out my cell phone and…
I’ve got Mother’s Day pain
It’s the week of Mother’s Day. And it’s that time of year that the church struggles to know what to do with women who aren’t mothers in the traditional sense. Pastors muse about, “Who gets a rose and who doesn’t?”…
Jesus is not the same as Christ
A holistic, inclusive, compassionate, justice oriented Christian vision would be adopted by more Christians if more Christians more carefully understood and distinguished between the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Christ. The appearance stories in the Gospels (probably a late developing…
Exploring the human condition in ‘Ex Machina’
Using the concept of artificial intelligence, Ex Machina speaks to the question of whether a robot can be human. Yet, beyond the robotic character there are questions about humans and how they relate to each other and how those relationships…
Timshel
This month I read “East of Eden” again as it was the selection for the Great Books KC April meeting. June also read it, and then before attending the April 25 discussion we watched (also for the second time) the…
What is truth? ‘Merchants of Doubt’ grapples with the question
When Jesus encounters Pilate, John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus declares he came into the world to testify to the truth. Pilate replies, “What is truth?” Merchants of Doubt poses this question to us. On the surface it may look…
One of the worst verses we sell our youth
“You know that line, the line where they tell you anything is possible. You can do anything you want when you grow up…it’s a lie.” I have had the conversation multiple times with youth and young adults. I’ve had it…
Think twice before you leave the traditional church
So you’re thinking about leaving the traditional church where you were raised and heading for the big-box megachurch down the way because your kids like the music? You’re not alone. This is happening all across America, not only in major…
Top 10 reasons people cite for not attending church services
Bill Wilson The photo below is of a perfect attendance pin for Sunday school. Many of you have never seen one. There was a day when it was a regular feature in churches all across America. If a person attended…
More about what lay leaders say about their dying churches
Mildred is dying. Mildred’s church is also dying. She is 82 years old and has an illness that is killing her. She has attended her church for the 43 years her family has lived in the area. She is seen…