Feeling drawn to a deeper communion with God, how do I seek to integrate this longing with my role as a pastor of a mainline, Protestant church? Having pastored in my current setting for twenty-one years, has given me “permission” to explore this question in...
Before his death, Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The destruction of the central symbol of God’s presence didn’t seem to unnerve Jesus. Obviously, Jesus did not equate religious structures and symbols with God. The death of religious structures and institutions was...
In my early years of ministry, I remember going to meetings of clergy. At some point in our meeting, everyone would pull out their calendars as we tried to schedule the next meeting. It was an extraordinary exercise of show-and-tell, as we displayed to each...
Lent is a church season devoted to reflection and the work of the heart. It’s a time for asking why we are here and what supports and what resists our intentions for living more faithfully and lovingly. In the classic pattern of western Christian spirituality,...
On the journey toward maturity as spiritual people, hopefully, we move beyond mere self-concern—I’m saved—toward an engagement with the suffering of the world—how can I bring healing to others? Certainly, Jesus was a healer and manifested compassion in profound ways. As ones who follow the...
Institutional religion is a mess these days. Respectable mainstream churches no longer fire the imagination or inspire people to deepen their encounter with the Holy. Fundamentalist churches promise the moon and the stars, but, in reality, lock people into silos of closely guarded communities which...
I am a mystic. By that, I simply mean, someone who has had and continues to have experience of God or transcendence or Mystery. Insert whatever word you want, they all fall short. I am also highly educated and love the life of the mind. ...
I woke up feeling vulnerable this morning. Perhaps it has something to do with the rhythms of life. Periods of heavy lifting and activity followed by a pause. This morning, I was in a moment of pause, with nothing pressing on my schedule. Maybe that’s...
I feel a tug to write about the sea change in the mainline church, where I have served as a pastor since 1984. George Orwell’s dystopian novel, imagined the year 1984 as a hellish scene of alienation and control, which seems much more apt as...