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…

Fragments for the Fragmented

Late last week, I was contacted by fellow pastor and blogger Drew "Pastor Mack," who was planning to write about the communion witness in which I participated at General Conference on May 3. He asked for my permission and to further pick my brain a bit, which I gladly granted, and I feel that his…

Diary of a Delegate: TwitterSermon

I had a very strange experience last night. I preached a sermon on Twitter. It had been a very hard day (more on that another time) and I had left the voting area (called the bar-- not a social establishment for beverage!), and sat for a time with some friends, members of the GLBTQ and…

Seeking Easter Inspiration

Here is my deep confession: It is hard for me to get inspired to lead worship on Easter. I face this every year. In part, I think the expectations I place on myself are too high-- I want to do something "cool" or "relevant" to get the attention of the visitors; I want to lift…

It’s. Still. Christmas.

People of faith, we have a problem. It's not that people say "Happy Holidays" (as a contraction of Holy and Days, 'holidays' actually reveres all of the sacred and special days in this season, from Solstice to Kwanzaa to Hanukkah to Christmas to Watch Night to New Year's Day). It's not that there's a war…

Day Off

Mondays are my sabbath days, but that doesn't necessarily mean a day of rest. Sometimes, what really rejuvenates me is getting to do projects I love or to dream about ministry (and maybe even do a little of it, which I don't consider cheating) without being 'on the clock.' So for example, today, on my…

It does feel different.

I feel like I missed a lot of Conference. Or maybe it's just that it's blurry and I only remember the big things. I preached Wednesday night for the opening memorial service, a tremendous honor that had me sweating glowing like crazy and more nervous than I remember being. Of course the actual sermon was…

What’s with the Ordination thing?

Not everyone who knows me is a church-going Methodist-loving nerd. I know, strange, but true. So some have been wondering, what is the ordination thing all about, and if I attend it, what should I do? What should I wear? Can I make cat calls? No on the last one, please. Clothes on the second…

Maybe this means the powers that be are listening!

As I posted earlier, the news that the work on a new United Methodist Hymnal has been postponed generated many ideas about what might spring up in the meantime, including a couple of great discussions over on the facebook group for the new hymnal. This morning, Dean McIntyre from the General Board of Discipleship emailed…

That Old Time Hymnal; it’s good enough for…

The United Methodist world is abuzz with the news: production on the new United Methodist Hymnal, slated for the 2012 quadrennium, has been halted. While my congregation rejoices that this means the copies of The Faith We Sing we just bought are not going to be obsolete right away, and I rejoice that people aren't…