Self-care includes developing and maintaining good physical, spiritual and mental health, a uniquely challenging but crucial discipline for a pastor. While these three areas of wellness are intertwined and inseparable, in my own life and the experience of many of…
How to have a ‘good’ Good Friday
How can Good Friday be good? Good Friday is the day that Christians all around the world remember the suffering of Jesus Christ on a cross. Depictions of Jesus Christ’s suffering are immortalized within our cultural framework because of such…
Pastors grieve too
In the last three years, I have conducted funerals for almost 40% of the active participants in my congregation. I have also officiated more than a dozen funerals for non- and inactive members. These numbers might seem staggering, but for…
Learning to suffer
I find it extremely ironic that the Church, which claims to be the embodiment the lamb that was slain, has such a difficult time ministering to those who are suffering. When tragedy strikes us, many congregants, deacons, and even some…
Praying for death
A year ago we took my mother home on hospice care. She died three days later, mercifully freed from a series of chronic health problems that were cascading out of control. But getting her out of the hospital—her sixth time…
Forever Changed #11: How do you comfort the wounded?
This week I really do not have a message to send home to you. Instead, I just need to grieve a little bit. This column is so healing for me because I get to share with you information that 1….
Where is God when bad stuff happens?
Where is God when bad things happen? Across the ages, this question has perplexed and frustrated those afflicted with suffering, grief, and pain. Theologians and philosophers have wrestled with scriptural texts and rational thought striving to make sense of the…
Forever Changed #2: giving life and those who have given theirs
I have been wondering all week what God was going to give to me to share with you all and now I know. I have been in country 7 whole days now, and we have had more mortar attacks than…
It floats (or what it’s like being on Satan’s payroll)
Whenever I’m asked to describe my job as a professional Christian, I usually stammer something along the lines of: “I talk about God for a living.” Or, if I’m feeling especially cynical: “It’s mostly marketing, some plagiarism, and a bit…