I got angry. While attending the Faith Forward Gathering a few weeks ago, Dr. Daniel White Hodge, Assistant Professor of Youth Ministry at North Park University, recounted a recent experience he had in which he had been pulled over by police. Although he wasn’t...
I walk a lot. Living near downtown Kalamazoo, MI, it makes much more sense to walk the mile or so to downtown shops, restaurants and church than it does to find a parking place and pay to have your car sit on the street (and potentially get a parking ticket.) This is...
With so many things in flux this year, it's a good time to take a step back and reassess your holiday (and other). Join me for a 4-week online retreat, Reinventing Ritual. Register here. ***** I attended A LOT of weddings in my 20s. These events often served as...
My travels started smoothly in the cold, dark pre-dawn hours. After hugging family members good-bye, I sauntered into the Lincoln, Nebraska airport to catch my flight to Savannah, GA, which would take me to colleagues for the United Church of Christ’s Authorized...
This blog series, Family Ministry: Not Just for the Christian Right Anymore, explores how family-based faith formation ministry will help progressive Christian values take root first in homes and then throughout our communities and the world in order to spread justice...
Tears welled up in my eyes. No, dirt had not jammed into my eye while biking so fast in last weekend’s Chicago Triathlon. Awe-struck humility had instead descended on me like a dove. Who am I to have the opportunity and ability to swim, bike and run 5150 meters (about...
I find myself in need of a confession: I feel hopeless about the church sometimes.Those nagging, fatalistic thoughts invade my psyche often after yet another phone call in which well-intentioned church folks replay the blow-by-blow of their latest church conflict....
Confession time: I never went to church camp. Unlike many, many of my Protestant sisters and brothers, (I was raised Roman Catholic.) I have no frame of reference for that quintessential summer experience that inspires as many conversions as it does hook-ups. When my...
I’ve never related to the style of middle children. Being born an oldest child, I prefer to direct and lead rather than hold hands and make peace. I’ve been known to roll my eyes at people who cajole and coddle that one person who threatens to leave a group when they...
Two words for my fellow Progressive Christians: Stop Hiding. I know you don’t want to be associated with door-knocking, salvation-sharing, “washed-in-the-blood” proselytizing. You don’t want to talk about what you believe in public or even with your family or church....
Following the Light is a series of blogs that point to the brights spots where I see renewal and rebirth in the world of religion and spirituality. The series will continue through the Christian season of Epiphany. I distinctly remember reading the Bible for the first...
Following the Light is a series of blogs that point to the brights spots where I see renewal and rebirth in the world of religion and spirituality. The series will continue through the Christian season of Epiphany. I knew I had seen a light — and it wasn’t just coming...
Adapted from a sermon I didn’t get to preach on Matthew 2: 1-12 because of winter weather on Jan. 5, 2014. It will also serve as the beginning on my forthcoming blog series, Following the Light …They were just doing their job.Every day they stared at the stars,...
Sometime in the past year or so, I lost my Bible. Not every copy of the Bible I own. (I am a seminary graduate, after all, and have many copies on my office shelf.) But, I lost the dog-eared, sticky-note laden Harper Collins Study Bible that I most often used to...
I can’t think of too many weekends more perfect than that Labor Day weekend in 2007. Three good friends and I loaded cars and trekked to the lake house we were borrowing on Lake Michigan just near Saugatuck, Michigan late on Friday night. Clear, blue skies, perfect...