As we enter October and prepare to celebrate the Reformation once again, we wanted to share the following poem by Meta Herrick Carlson.

What a marvel it is to have a child. There really are no words to do it justice. A few of you have expressed interest in what parenthood will do to my sense of rest. I’m sure that will be a lifelong journey, but here are a few quick insights

Journeys are less often about the goal, and more frequently about the experiences it takes to complete them. Such are the spiritual journeys that we embark on, but they are more than they seem. They can reveal things we do not expect, and like a dream, hold a unique significance for each of us.

Trying to make sense of “this generation” can be fraught with misapprehension. Many things are different, yet many things remain the same. The Gospel of Matthew helps to reinvigorate our notions of modernity, and remind us of the place that children hold as descendants of faith and the new foundation for future discipleship.

What do we do with the memories that haunt us? That sneak up on us late at night.  And whisper words that cut quick to our core?

When reading Paul’s letters, the exegetical and theological mistakes we might make are numerous and often tragic, as we all know. The list of insights is significant, of course, but so too are the distracting detours and the deadly interpretations.

A one on one interview with Jessica Liles exploring the challenges of planting a church and building relationships between the congregation and the community in an ever-changing world.

A congregation in the town next to ours has a new main outdoor sign.  Recently the sign said, “Now open between Easter and Christmas.”  I wondered what they meant by the phrase and why they used it?

Our first interview in the Leadership Lab series with Rev. Wesley Morris.

The parable of the talents then would become a commentary at large about an economy that uses people and values things rather than values people and uses things.

The stories, like that of Abraham and his descendants, enable us in our modern times to understand that stories of family dysfunction are not at all new. These stories give us much with which to wrestle with as we learn and ponder them anew. 

The stories, like that of Abraham and his descendants, enable us in our modern times to understand that stories of family dysfunction are not at all new. These stories give us much with which to wrestle with as we learn and ponder them anew. 

In the context of congregational disruption, leaders have two options: 1) lead in a manner that disrupts the status quo that is going to be disrupted by culture anyway or, 2) allow the disruption to determine the future of the congregation.

Churches, leadership, and denominations should begin by seeing ministers as complete human beings with a variety of gifts to offer inside and outside the church, rather than sort of widgets to fill in to particular parish settings, while adding in a part-time job or “bivocational ministry” heading to pay the bills. 

Many people think I’m “not working” since I left my most recent parish call, and in my denomination, our practice of placing multi-vocational ministers “on leave from call,” reinforces this misunderstanding.

We carefully read through Lenten devotionals and give up things for forty days, but then rush through Easter as if it’s one day, and never take time to think about what fifty days of feasting could look like for our so-tired souls.

Christian parenting is tough. On one hand, I desperately want my two daughters to have faith in God. I want them to experience the church as a place that models the love of God. I want them to be compelled to act when they see the image of God in their neighbors. On the other, I don’t want the weight of my expectations to become an unbearable burden. And, if I’m honest, my expectations are weighty.

People leave and get let go. People quit and get fired. This is not a conversation about that. This is a conversation about how we treat people who leave or get let go.

There are many roads in this life. Some are actual roads that take us from “point A to point B.” Others are metaphorical, roads that we travel in our hearts. Many of the roads we travel, we never think of again, but some roads are so defining that they become drawn across our story with indelible ink.