Pastor’s Blog (Page 4)

I hesitate to write this. Not because it isn’t worth saying, but because I’m still child-rearing in the church myself. And I know the last thing a child-rearing adult wants is uninvited attention on what their kids are doing. So, parents and caregivers, let me be clear from the start: this is written with overflowing gratitude and respect—from your senior pastor and fellow child-rearer. Lately I’ve found myself admiring the church we are growing into. I see it on Sunday mornings. I know that what happens in our classrooms is deeply formational. I see it in the kids who show up week after week. IRead More →

Recently our worship planning team gathered around the zoom screen to dream about Holy Week and Easter. There were calendars and hymnals, half-formed ideas and bold ones. We asked the usual questions, how might this idea work? How might this year be experiential, not just something we watch but something we step into? Spoiler alert: it’s going to be very experiential this year. And here’s the double spoiler, we’re ending Easter morning singing the Hallelujah Chorus with choir, organ, and string quartet! I love that one. It’s a favorite for many of us. When I was growing up, my home church sang it a fewRead More →

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had several people ask me some version of this question: “Pastor, someone I care about, someone I’ve been at odds with for a long time, is suddenly questioning or shifting their hard position. How do I engage without telling them, ‘I told you so’?” I admire such honest questions and the care for another person in them, but I’ll admit there is a small, self-satisfied part of us that wants to win the moment. We have carried conviction. We have endured disagreement. We have sometimes felt dismissed. And now, suddenly, the ground is moving. So, what do we doRead More →

Back in seminary, I was pretty focused. I wanted to finish in the standard three years, which meant electives were precious. I only had space for one elective in the New Testament and one in the Old Testament. So, when a new professor, Dr. Gambrell, offered his first class on the Psalms, my friends were excited. Dr. Gamble was just a few years older than we were. He helped lead chapel, wrote prayers, designed worship, and had that rare combination of intellect and creativity that made him, well, kind of cool. A few friends encouraged me to take the class with them. I remember thinking,Read More →

Last week I blogged about some of my internal struggles. (I promise I don’t want this space to become my public therapy journal). But I’ve also been noticing a tension through pastoral conversations that many of us seem to be living in lately.  It’s that strange in-between season. The betwixt and between. The moment when you get bad news… and then still laugh to the point of tears in conversation with a friend. When you’re crying over the world and still manage to stand in awe at nature.  Sometimes the ache is personal, like a diagnosis, a loss, and a hard decision. Other times, it’s the kind of ache we absorb just by reading the news: war, disaster, political chaos, injustice. And yet, not everything is terrible. That’s part of the tension, too.  We live inRead More →

When I chose the date for our Foundations & Futures Luncheon on January 7, I knew from the start that not everyone who loves this church would be able to attend. That’s simply the reality of full calendars and faithful lives. So, if you weren’t there, please know this first: you were missed, you are valued, and the heart of what we shared belongs to you too.  Now earlier this week we shared part of what happened that afternoon: a first look at the 1874 Project. That work matters deeply. Caring for our building is essential to our witness, our accessibility, and our ability to serve generations to come. But as important as bricks and budgets are, we know they are not the whole story. Read More →