For the Iowa Annual Conference this year, our conference artist created a gallery in our meeting space. It housed a collection of works from various people and each piece connected with our theme of Radical Hospitality with Justice. The room itself was a conversation space. Chairs arranged for discussion, room to move, room to reflect, post-its on…
The Body of Christ
we are the church
Idiotology
There has been a lot of talk on the airwaves lately about ideology. Mostly regarding economics and politics and the way people played chicken with this debt ceiling question. As I heard a debate a few weeks ago, I actually thought that someone had said “idiotology” and it got me thinking. Are our attachments to certain…
a church that agrees too often
After a few years in my congregation, I realized I had a major, however, hidden problem… My church didn’t know how to disagree. This may not seem like a problem on the surface. What pastor wouldn’t be thrilled by a church that jumped right on board with their requests and was quick to respond in…
Making the Congregation Cry
This has been an insanely busy summer… vacation, a new nephew, mission trips, fundraisers, cleaning at the church… So I have tried to make my summer a bit easier by working through Romans with the congregation. Ha. In some ways, it hasn’t been that bad. Each piece kind of follows on the one before it,…
A summer of confession and struggle and hope
I have decided to journey through the book of Romans with my church folks this summer. a) it’s the lectionary b) I haven’t spent that much time with Romans before c) it is fitting in nicely with our visioning process d) it has absolutely positively hit me right in the gut and there is A…
understanding ritual
Today I get to co-officiate my first inter-denominational wedding. Well, that may not be completely true. There have been plenty of folks from different protestant and even different Christian backgrounds who have married under my authority. But each couple chose to go with the Methodist order and flow and style… their traditions weren’t so important,…
Was John Wesley a Deacon?
Through John Meunier, I was directed to “Four John Wesley quotes everyone should know” by John Pedlar. They are good quotes, and ones that, as a student of Methodist history and theology, I knew well. But as John shares, James shares an important insight at the end of his piece. It is in response to…
time heals all…
My church has not had a choir for about 10-15 years. And this large brown filing cabinet with boxes overflowing next to it in the church office is full of sheet music and photocopies (oops) and sample scores. For 10 years, we have not used a single piece of music… and in fact, when we brought…