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August 25, 2016
The art of building community Welcoming freshman to campus with love By Abby King-Kaiser Our campus on move in day is a little surreal. Mobs of students, and alums dance outside each of the dorms, cheering as cars pull up. Parents look confused as new students are checked in and the hoards swarm their car to… Read more »
August 24, 2016
Church at a Paul McCartney concert? The joy of sharing history and hope By Mary Robin Craig Was that . . . church? There was a call to worship, in the form of a driven, pounding “Hard Day’s Night.” There were confessions, in the form of humorous anecdotes illuminating early years of learning and recording…. Read more »
August 22, 2016
Churches never die Transforming grump into gratitude Jeffrey A. Schooley “Depressing” was the only observation from one of my elders after a recent session meeting. We had just reviewed demographic and sociological information from the remarkably helpful data aggregation web company, MissionInsite. The data revealed that much of our immediate community is “irreligious.” In fact, even… Read more »
August 18, 2016
The tapestry: My anti-racism story Seeing a gap in the way racial issues are categorized by Anita Coleman My eyes opened to another perfect California day. The usual cool, foggy marine layer that coastal California tends to get in June was missing but my day soon turned cloudy anyway. That was the morning, Thursday June… Read more »
August 15, 2016
The blood and the river By Jose Luis Casal Dedicated to the victims of the massacre in Orlando and their families When the blood becomes a river flowers bloom from dead bones. And life emerges beyond the homophobias and hatred speeches from “plexi-glass Christians” without any hopes. When the blood becomes a river fertilizes life… Read more »
August 15, 2016
Barriers Things that stand in the way of change By Sarah Robbins We are our own worst enemy. When it comes to creating and maintaining change in the church we work against ourselves time and time again. We pile up all the reasons that our hands feel tied: it’s not the right time, we don’t… Read more »
August 9, 2016
Striving for greatness It may not be what we think By N. Graham Standish While we may crave being considered great in the world’s eyes, it’s much more important to be considered great in God’s eyes. Yet what makes us great in God’s eyes may make us seem like nothing in the world’s eyes. What… Read more »
August 8, 2016
Marriage as Witness Understanding marriage as being about mission, not happiness By Jeffrey A Schooley This column is for the engaged, the to-be-engaged, and even for those who are already married and are still working out what that means. Last month we explored the significance of couples getting married in the church during a normal… Read more »
August 2, 2016
Trusting in resurrection Accomplishing more together By Sarah Robbins “My first call was not what I had imagined– and what a relief that turned out to be.” This is pretty close to the phrasing that I hear most pastors say when describing the beginning of their work as Ministers of Word and Sacrament – for… Read more »
July 27, 2016
Unholy War What just war theory requires us to believe about Jesus By Jeffrey Schooley At the 222nd General Assembly the Peacemaking and International Issues Committee addressed the long-contentious issue of the Just War tradition in Christianity. A recent guest column speaks to some of this deliberation. The concept of a just war and the… Read more »