Values

I’ve got words all over my room, my thoughts about values plastered here and there, asking in the deep-gut way what kinds of qualities in life are most important to me.  We are so bombarded with messages telling us what we should value.  Sometimes the shoulds ride on top in our consciousness so that we [...]

People

A couple that moves across country with two children to a small apartment in a world where they know no one, admitting that loneliness kills. A different young couple in the first month of their marriage, checking out a church because they saw a sign on the road. A third young couple, unmarried, [...]

Strangely Energized

Words like “spirit”, “energy”, “intention”, “living water”–all these are rolling around in my head this morning.  Can you tell I’ve been prepping for a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit?  Who can tell all that goes into the creation of a mood, or a way of being on a particular day?  Is it all [...]

Badge of Shame

I went to my usual coffee shop this morning for the latte and orange-cranberry scone and I noticed the barista taking my order, a young woman who’s been working there for several years as she completes her university education, was wearing something unusual around her neck.  I had to look more closely.  It was a [...]

Inspiration, Work, and The Spirit

I told the assembly yesterday that in spite of my best efforts last week, I couldn’t really get my sermon to work. I knew what I wanted to say, and I knew where the text sort of needed to go, but I couldn’t put it into words. They were gracious as I stumbled [...]

Jim and Caspar Go To Church

If you haven’t read it, and you’re interested in the conversation going on among evangelicals who are tired of “doing church” the same old way, this is a great book to check out. It’s a fast read and one that will make you think differently about what happens on a Sunday morning.
Long story short, [...]

The Elusive Nature of Words

I have no idea why I wrote that title just now, except that I’ve been studying scripture this morning, bemoaning my lack of knowledge and training. There is of course plain meaning in words, but there is also the shimmered layering that floats over centuries and translation. The appearance of a word in [...]

Healing in the Wind

As I look around my circles of friends, many of them involved in the life of the church at Northwest, I can sense good things on the move. Healing is hard to quantify, hard to describe. In my own life, as damaged as it was early on, the movement toward greater stretches of [...]

Sustainable Pace

Slow down.  Breathe.  Pay attention.  Be quiet.  Listen.
All these words assume something other than running willy-nilly hard-as-we-can-go-so-we-can-do-ever-more-and-more-good-things.  This past Monday night, I sort of lost my mind at a meeting and went on a passionate tirade about beauty and other things, making declarations that I think are largely true about our heritage’s disconnect with beauty [...]

Blogging at the Church Blog, too

So now there are two blogs going.
Truth is, I’ve been working far too many hours at a pace that’s unsustainable.   Not unusual for people in ministry, I think, so I’ve gone back and retooled, thinking through what God is asking me to do once again.  I need to be writing more, venturing out into the [...]