Posts Tagged: worship

Unglued church

Learning to let go Embracing what we cannot see By Sarah Robbins   “You really should just go ahead and embrace it.” When something new is happening in our life, like a change in job or relationship, people will often offer this perspective. When we are in pain or in grief or a little of… Read more »

Reflections from the frontline

When Sunday Ambushes  Christmas Remembering Jesus in the chaos By Roberta Updegraff Christmas Sunday graces a century a dozen times or less, and I have celebrated it eight times in my lifetime, yet rarely with the awe it deserves. Our children were young in 1988 and easily corralled, for they had been awake since long… Read more »

Unglued church

Let’s begin, again Rituals encourage us to dig deep By Rev. Sarah Robbins   I am a creature of habit. I love ritual and routine and the opportunity to experience something again and again. I feel like it helps me to dig deep and truly envelop myself in what someone has written, or created or… Read more »

God in all things

Big Events Call for Big Responses Gathering in Cleveland draws a crowd By Mary Robin Craig As the Republican National Convention here in Cleveland came to a close, I spent a couple of hours downtown, wandering around to take pictures and to soak up the atmosphere – for the most part cheerful, hospitable, and relaxed. Three… Read more »

Reflections from GA 222

A sense of worship Encounters with the gospel by Sue Washburn   One of the great things for preachers attending General Assembly is the opportunity to get out of the pulpit and into the pew. As someone who loves worship in its many forms, I was exited to see the similarities and differences between the… Read more »

justleros: more than nonsense / más que disparates

You gave me nothing A resource for Sunday’s liturgy based on Luke 7:36–50 by Magdalena I. García Then turning toward the woman, [Jesus] said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them… Read more »

Swell

Church growth is not about the easy externals of church life. It is about communicating and embodying the good news of Jesus Christ, sharing it with your community in ways that they will hear it, daily laboring to follow in Christ’s steps as his disciples. It is about remembering that we are promised the grace that comes from a cross, not a smoothie machine. 

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Small Matters

Stories of mustard seeds and mountains How the gospel showed up in a hospital roomWhat 80 years of church will do to a person by Sue Washburn I probably should not have had that third shot of espresso. My mind was going a million miles an hour. I paced as I made phone calls to… Read more »

Uncharted Territory

Stumbling our way into God’s future for the church Permission to innovateMaking the most of low-attendance Sundays    by Lisa M. López Year after year they come, as inevitably as the high holidays, though with remarkably less fuss. If you have been serving a particular congregation for a while you may be able to see… Read more »

Not Quite Right

One slightly unhinged pastor’s attempt to love (and laugh with) a slightly unhinged church, from the inside out. Why (and how) to kill a church programWant a healthier church in 2016? Prune the tree! by Joshua Bower Here’s a typical week for my family, on top of school and work: Monday is my daughter’s gymnastics… Read more »