Last evening my family stopped by Walgreen’s for soft drinks, chips and candy. Another family — dear friends — visited Dollar Tree to purchase a variety of inexpensive gifts. A few minutes later we met at Peaceful Haven, a local nursing home, one that provides services for those at the lower end of the economic…
Words, Words, Words
In the beginning was the Word. The preachers’ dilemma: words used to communicate the deep mysteries of God are like mallets used for brain surgery — blunt and clumsy instruments, ill-suited for the task. Yet, they are what we have in that brief liturgical window allotted the sermon each Sunday. So, we struggle to make…
Speech Acts
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God spoke and called worlds into being: “Let there be,” God said, and there was, and it was good — creation by speech act. A speech act consists of words, and sometimes gestures, which not only express but create that which is expressed. Speech acts are…
Marriage and Mystery
Tomorrow, in new cassock and surplice and for the first time as priest, I will read the Gospel and lead the matrimonial prayers in The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage. The couple is young and dear and in love (with Christ and with one another) and is, I feel confident, about as ready for…
Does Christian Ministry Make a Difference?
None of us want to spend a life in ordained or lay ministry, serving to build up the Church and serve the world, only later to realize that it makes no difference. We don’t want to build sand castles, only to watch the tide wash them away. Sand Castles at High Tide? Even if we…
Five Signs of Clergy Health & Longevity
The road to ministry is filled with pastors who burned out, committed moral failure, or walked away from the ministry. For many, what began as an exciting adventure became a nightmare. Peter Drucker, who Business Week has called “the man who invented management,” said the four toughest jobs in America (in no particular order) were:…
