It looked like a weed - the tiny sprig of green that sprouted in the crack of my front walkway. I passed it for days as I rushed out the front door headed for work. With each passing, the growing leaves reminded me to add...
“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” For years the words from 1 John were the crescendo of my well-crafted wedding homily, where I proclaimed to a couple that because they were in love, God was...
Several years ago, when our kids were still pretty young and wiggly, we had a particularly bad Sunday in worship. They rattled papers, squirmed, and dropped more than one Matchbox car. We were still fairly new to the community, so we were especially uncomfortable to be...
Macedonian Ministry welcomes pastors from throughout our program and broadening network to contribute to our weekly articles. This week, our thanks to Rev. Jim Truesdell, for his reflection. After nearly 20 years of pastoral ministry in Presbyterian churches, God issued a disruptive call. Away from the institution...
A childhood friend of mine shared with me this past week, about an incident with her child and one of his friends. Her child told his good friend that he and his family was moving away. Welp, this good friend decided to post, his thoughts...
Disruption comes in many forms. There is the disruption that we plan and manage. And then there is the disruption that comes unbidden and unwelcome but often brings unexpected gifts. I’m mostly talking about when things go wrong. There was the Sunday the toilets overflowed....
Time and talent sheets are surveys that ostensibly present opportunities for service in the congregation and invite people to get more involved in church life. By and large they are a waste of time. Congregations are rarely poised to activate all responses in a timely...
There are numerous factors and forces that disrupt the life of the church – everything from conflicts and situations unique to a specific congregation to the whole North American church in general navigating an indifferent, secular culture and we have been exploring disruption in this...
Disruption has gotten a bad rap. It’s almost like “the name that shall not be spoken.” We spend a great deal of time and energy trying to avoid disruption and reinforce status quo. This is remarkable, because disruption is our friend. Disruption is the friend...