Some of you sometimes ask what I like to do in my spare time and one of my favorite things to do is binge watching television. I like all sorts of things, from Grey’s Anatomy to Breaking Bad, but I also have a healthy obsession with British television and sci-fi. Both of which are perfectly…
Lent
Outside – In
Over the past eight months, I have learned a lot about the people of Immanuel UMC. I had heard you were friendly and welcoming, hospitable and that this was a caring church, but those are really just words until you see them lived out in people’s lives. And having a fresh set of eyes –…
Trust, not Unquestioning Belief
In 2012, I took my youth group on a mission trip to Minneapolis. We worked in a number of different sites and one of them was the Emergency Foodshelf Network. This organization helps distribute food items to 70 area food shelves by channeling donations for organizations and large corporations. Most of these are bulk items. …
Rescued
For the first 20 or so years of my life, I understood salvation as one concrete idea: that Jesus died for my sin on the cross. Substitutionary Atonement is what we call it. Jesus took our place. He was our substitute and paid the price for our sins. But before too long, I discovered that…
Ashes and Lattes
In the middle of a public place, a busy coffee shop, surrounded by strangers… people got real. We hosted our first ashes to go in the community and while we didn’t have a large turnout, the conversations were deep and holy. I got to know my parishioners better. I heard what brings they joy and…
What I am learning as I give up social media for Lent…
#1 – I seek praise, sympathy, solidarity through social media. The smallest, most insignificant thing could happen and my first instinct is to post it so that other people will comment and respond. It is attention-seeking behavior that often slips into a self-centered focus. Having to constantly fight the urge to post has led me…
Prayers from the kitchen sink
We must — at some point along our Lenten journey — be candid about death. Lent begins with the reminder of our mortality, with the ashes from which we are knit together, and the season reaches its climax in the crucifixion of Jesus… Even Jesus, praying at Gethsemane before his death, asked his friends to…
Prayers from under a blanket
Today’s prompt begins with verse 6 of the familiar Psalm 139 (NRSV): “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.” Look up today. Let the high places catch your eye and your imagination. Be full of wonder as you pick up your pen to pray. Holy God,…