I met an educator who freely admits to her imperfections, yet she looks at the church to be perfect, or nearly perfect. She wouldn’t say the following outright, but she thinks church should be far, far better than it is. She can have flaws, but the church shouldn’t. Like you,...

It’s a common hall, a nothing-to-take-your-breath-away community space. Low ceilings. Florescent lights. Non-worship stuff is stored there from folded and stacked conference tables to GAME ON beach balls to materials used to make Ugly Quilts. Don’t forget the many bulletin boards aimed for—and designed by—the kiddos. Hardly space for worship....

No one wants to be seen looking bad. Instead, show us in our best light, right? Seriously. If someone is going to talk about us, we wanna look GOOD. That is what should have happened at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. The disciples, who followed their leader’s instructions...

My mom, a farmer’s wife, has what to her is a treasure on her back deck—a rain gauge. While meteorologists may have slightly more sophisticated data collecting software, she’s faithful in writing daily rainfall amounts on a pad on her refrigerator. So yes, there’s August, 2018. Totals vary across our...

Well, happy day. Or actually—happy days. Two young couples are having their young babies baptized this month on back to back Sundays. Both couples recognize God’s gift in their newborns. Professing their faith to God, they want to ensure eternal safety with their son in one case, and their daughter...

A letter addressed “Dear Pastor” recently arrived from an inmate at Camp Hill Correctional Institution. In it, Matthew (not his real name) tells me his mom, who is older and in poor health, is taking care of his young daughter. Matthew said his mom barely has $5 left at the...

This may have happened to you if you’re a green thumb person. In your flower or vegetable garden, some unidentifiable “gift” started from seed and grew quickly enough that you knew it was not a weed. Green Thumbers, you have some universal code in cases like this. You don’t pull...

“Unless your congregation is made up entirely of people who own two homes or who can afford to take three-month vacations every summer,” writes Ann A. Michel of the Lewis Center for Church Worship in an article called Avoiding a Summer Drop in Worship Attendance, “it is simply a myth...

As a small child, you thought the world of your mom, dad, or significant adult figure. They were smart, strong, capable, talented and, in your young mind, they met your every need. When in their lap, you knew you were safe, cared for, and loved. Something happened later. A crack...

  Thomas Jefferson knew what he was talking about. In our Declaration of Independence, written with a profound conviction and belief in freedom, Jefferson makes a scathing indictment of the abuses inflicted by the king of Great Britain. In what would change world history, he justifies the decision of the...