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Posts By: Guest Blogger
October 31, 2023
Liberty Community Church is the only African American PC(USA) church in the state of Minnesota. Located in North Minneapolis inside one of the city’s poorest zip codes and situated between major interstates which make it a prime spot for sex trafficking and illegal drug trading, this Matthew 25 congregation revitalized the spaces of two Presbyterian… Read more »
October 26, 2023
What’s the simple solution to our fractious and fracturing society? We need more Presbyterians! We need more Presbyterians not because we want to keep churches open or even because our Presbyterian form of government is unique within Christendom. No, we need more Presbyterians because Presbyterians know how to tolerate differences of opinion. We know how… Read more »
September 6, 2023
For too long, we have believed that the divine is outside us. This belief has strained our longing disastrously. This makes us lonely, since it is human longing that makes us holy. The most beautiful thing about us is our longing; this longing is spiritual and has great depth and wisdom. If you focus your… Read more »
September 1, 2023
A bench in New York’s Central Park makes a great place to people watch. I got to do that this past Sunday afternoon before I met up with the group of my general presbyter friends from around the country. Our group—hailing from Arkansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Kentucky—converges annually in New York for a… Read more »
August 15, 2023
“First Breakfast, then School, then Scooby Doo.” I tick off each item on my finger as I name them to my son, Westley. It had taken me a minute to shrink the schedule into just three items and to end them with the desired one, but after what seemed like an eternity—and was really about… Read more »
August 9, 2023
Youth Sunday 2023, many of us at Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky learned we had a rock band in our midst. While our services usually end with a grand organ postlude, this Sunday the organ led into the swirling electric guitar chimes of the U2 classic “Where the Streets Have No Name,” beautifully… Read more »
August 4, 2023
Talking with Children About Death My phone dinged. A note from my daughter’s kindergartner teacher waited in the class app. The note began friendly enough: “She’s doing well today … but…” And you know there’s always a but … “A few times this afternoon, she said she was sad because her aunt died when she… Read more »
August 3, 2023
Worship tells a story that can cause discomfort In contemplating pastoral identity in a secular age, I found myself thinking about liturgy—the public ritual act of worship, one of the main parts of my role as a congregational pastor. What does liturgy mean in this frame—where so few people feel God’s presence in their lives?… Read more »
June 30, 2023
Several weeks ago, I shared some thoughts about the teen mental health crisis and pointed to some theories about what’s causing it. (Reminder: I believe it’s a little of everything.) Since I wrote it, even more articles have come my way, many of them pointing to social media as a root cause, though as I said before,… Read more »
June 23, 2023
Every Wednesday at noon throughout the Idaho state legislative session, you can find me on the steps of the Capitol building, standing still and praying silently. The silence of my thoughts is interrupted only by the occasional sniffle, as my nose angrily protests the bitter cold I’ve subjected it to. I don’t stand alone, but… Read more »
