The Dipping Part

Children's time at church is such a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I dislike that the kids seem paraded up front on display, where their unabashed curiosity, evolving faith, and sweet antics entertain the watching adults like an adorable weekly installment of "Kids Say the Darnedest Things." On the other hand, give me half as…

An Invitation from the New England Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church

Here is the full text of the motion I made, as amended and adopted by the 2014 session of the New England Annual Conference: An Invitation The New England Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church strives to be an inclusive conference that celebrates, develops, and affirms God-given gifts for lay and ordained ministry. We…

RMN Convocation- What I Loved

Earlier this month, I attended Reconciling Ministries Network's biennial Convocation. This year's event, Churchquake!, was held over Labor Day Weekend (hey, I'm trying to fit my thoughts in within the statute of limitations window!) in Chevy Chase, MD, and despite my long love affair with RMN, this was my first time attending Convo. I loved…

A Year Ago…

A year ago, I broke a loaf of bread. A year ago, grace again was shortchanged, voices again were silenced, division again went unnamed. A year ago, hearts broken and sealed and scarred over were broken again in places familiar and new. A year ago, the Body of Christ was broken. And so I broke…

The Phrivolous Phantom

On Thursday, I led devotional exercises at the Vermont House of Representatives. I said something like this: Depending on what route you took into town today, you may have seen that downtown Montpelier was "attacked" by the Valentine's Day Phantom. Sometime during the night before Valentine's Day, this anonymous person-- or group of people, more…

Resetting an Open Holiday Table

as posted on the Reconciling Ministries Network blog Family legend tells that the year after my parents separated, my mom faced the prospect of her first Thanksgiving alone. She accepted an invitation to the home of a friend, and my family and I have been spending alternating Thanksgiving holidays with them ever since, adding spouses…

Diary of a Delegate: She Moves in Mysterious Ways

(continued from previous post) When Judicial Ruling 1210 was handed down at about 4:15 pm on Friday (with the General Conference scheduled to recess at 5 and then return for a two-hour legislative session before adjournment), creative chaos ensued. One of my fellow Church and Society B committee members called for a five minute recess,…

Love, Norms, and Heterosexual Priveledge

I don't think it's any big secret that I am an enormous fan of the Fox show "Glee." While the show contains much that is campy, cheesy, and cartooney, it also has several wonderful factors, which I early on decided were 1. Sue Sylvester (such incredibly snarky, wonderful, sarcastic writing), 2. Will Schuester (a character…

This our hymn of grateful praise

My family and I have much to be thankful for this holiday. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite time of year, perhaps even more so now that it is one of the only holidays that doesn't fall on a weekend and a major church work day. It's a time for family and good food, and…

Reflections on “Pastor’s 24”

Yesterday I joined 71 other pastors in a twitter project called Pastor's 24. It was a project suggested by my friend, colleague in ministry, and cohort in online Methodist geekdom (as of this writing, we are both featured in the blog section at umc.org, as we attempt to subvert the church with our newfangled communication…