One of my favorite movie scenes of all time, is the waterfall fight scene in the movie Black Panther wherein M’Baku challenges Prince T’Challa for the kingship of Wakanda (if you haven’t seen it, you may watch a clip here). There is a moment when M’Baku seems to be winning...
[caption id="attachment_8448" align="alignleft" width="300"] Photo of the Wall, with protest art. Just outside of Wi’am in Bethlehem.[/caption] How can pastors work to heal the tattered social fabric of their communities? I’ve been thinking a lot about this question since recently returning from a trip to Israel-Palestine with...
hind·er verb create difficulties for (someone or something), resulting in delay or obstruction Peter’s education as a follower of Jesus didn’t end with Jesus’ ascension. The Book of Acts highlights God’s relentless work on opening Peter up to hard challenges. These surprises for Peter largely focused...
I wrote these words before I learned of the mass shootings that occurred over this weekend. My first inclination was to scrap them but then I read them again and they remain true to me… Pardon me if they seem a bit preachy but here goes… At...
Over the next several weeks we'll be reflecting on how congregations and other ministry contexts serve as spaces of trust-building, mending social fabric, and faith formation that joins people in hope across difference. Here, I want to consider for a moment what an expression of prophetic...
A couple years ago when I started the Digital Hospitality Retreats as an experiment, the driving need I imagined was people needed space to connect with God in the midst of the unknown. We were just entering the widespread pandemic of COVID-19, shelter-in-place, school at...
I like how Eugene Peterson translates this section of Hebrews 13: 10-12 The altar from which God gives us the gift of himself is not for exploitation by insiders who grab and loot. In the old system, the animals are killed and the bodies disposed of outside...
It’s no wonder that most pastors and church folk would like to never think or have to talk about the political/social divide in our society ever again. It is literally tearing churches – and pastors – apart. Accepting the warring categories in our culture as...
As a third-generation preacher I have been in the church my whole life, however, there were times where my church involvement and attendance was episodic at best. Yes, I was one of “those people” who didn’t attend church regularly despite my deep relationship with Jesus...