We have 3 current Old Firsters that I know who were baptized as adults— Adam, Liz and Jillian. Trixie was baptized as a confirmation age person, I think as a 12 year old. So were Prince, Aiden, McKenna. When people are old enough — or cognizant enough! — to make their own promises at...
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Ok, this is clearly a clergy fantasy. Or at least mine as a minister. What am I fantasizing about? That one Sunday when EVERYONE shows up for church. I mean everyone from this community. The regulars. And the everyone-once-in-a-whiles. And the C and Es. And so and so’s sister or...
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So on Sunday, August 4, we re-purposed the silence with which we begin each worship service. Usually, it’s a moment to stop, center ourselves, and take stock as we prepare to worship. I asked, instead, that it serve as a moment of respectful silence before the loss of life in El...
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Author’s note: Apologetics is the religious discipline of defending doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. This is a piece of Christian apologetics: I am defending the importance of strong relationships among the people of our community; they speak to the strength of...
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1 God of our life, through all the circling years, we trust in you; in all the past, through all our hopes and fears, your hand we view. With each new day, when morning lifts the veil, we own your mercies, Lord, which never fail. 2 God of the past, our times are in your
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I am not even a grandfather yet. No signs of labor yet, but already past the due date, so it could be any day. But even without a grandchild, I have strong feelings about grandparenting. And mostly my opinion is that as a grandfather, I may have lots of opinions, but I should keep them...
Read more If the past week is any measure, it appears that President Trump’s re-election campaign strategy revolves around polarizing the country along racial divides as well as branding the Democrats as both un-American and dangerous socialists. That worries me: the danger is in the damage that...
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A friend teased me after he heard that I was in Manhattan on Monday for Transportation Alternatives’ “Die-in” commemorating the 15 cyclists and 55 pedestrians killed in NYC by drivers in the first 6 months of 2019. My friend poked, “Now you are traveling to other...
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Ok, so those of us who take the stairs in the Sanctuary building — especially those who do so without even thinking about it — you might not even realize that some of our co-worshippers use the elevator. For some, they couldn’t worship with us without the elevator. (It’s...
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As a pastor, I spend a significant portion of my time in ministry working with people and situations that involve health and illness. People who are sick or recovering or fearing or planning for illness… and the others who are affected by their loved one’s health situation. I...
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