Well. Somehow I made it through one of the busiest weeks of my entire life. The irony didn’t escape me that while many friends and siblings and loved ones were on spring break, I felt like i was in the midst of finals. This past week, I had a funeral, gave the invocation at a…
Easter is for the Hopeless
A rollercoaster of emotions. In the sunrise service this morning we began a little bit differently and instead of starting off with the joy of the resurrected Christ, we began with the despair felt by Mary and the disciples because their Lord and Teacher was no longer with them. You see, for the disciples, Easter…
grey area.. greys anatomy
I haven’t written in here for a while. Lots going on. Had a young adult clergy retreat this last weekend and really really enjoyed being with other young pastors and just hanging out. It was good to veg for a while. The whole sermon thing is starting to feel like homework. Especially this week. I…
roundtable preaching
This past semester I got to work on my senior project with Dr. John McClure, a professor of homiletics at Vanderbilt Divinity. My project has been on the intersection of so-called postmodern church practices with rural churches in Iowa and one of his suggestions, as a homiletician, was that I incorporate some kind of collaborative…
putting things off
I haven’t written in here for a while – and I have SO much to say. And only 20 minutes before I need to be at the hospital. So here is a checklist – 1) Breaking Bread, 2) Sand and Water at the beginning of Lent, 3) the roundtable pulpit group, 4) wrestling with grace…
and so it begins
Lent that is… the season of wilderness wandering entered our community with a snowstorm and forced us to cancel our Ash Wednesday services. I think we shoveled our driveway twice on Wednesday – and it would have been three times if
A Different Light
A Different Light… There is a strange paradox in the church these days. While we often use words like repentence and transformation – all words for radical change in our lives, the truth is, the church is often the LAST place that change occurs. A friend of mine often reminds me that people come…
long time, no post…
lots has been happening in my life and my church/family life lately – but my main excuse for not blogging is that I haven’t been feeling well. Stupid colds. So far, I have been able to establish a sort of strange routine and get my sermons at least written by Wednesday afternoons. Starting in February,…