As a teen, I worked at a Christian bookstore. Occasionally, a few of us would get a bit lazy with the dress code, and would need a reminder from the manager. Since I usually worked at the end of the week, my friends would get spoken to on Monday, and then the manager would call me to the office when I came in on Wednesday. The conversation would always go like this. “Paul, I want to talk to you about . . . oh . . . never mind.” Continue reading Call to Worship: Second Sunday of Advent
Call to Worship: First Sunday of Advent
I have always enjoyed the days building up to Christmas, but my outlook has changed since I have grown up. As a child, I looked forward to Christmas morning, when I could open all my presents. As an adult, I am more likely to purchase items for myself when I need them, or they are on sale, rather than wait for a special occasion, such as Christmas or my birthday, when I might receive them as a gift (to the frustration of my wife). Continue reading Call to Worship: First Sunday of Advent
A Dave Matthew’s Life
For the last few months, and probably continuing well into next year, I have been living a in Dave Matthew’s song. Where are you going? (I supposed it is better than living in Gravedigger.) I am in my final year of seminary, and the question one receives at this time is different than when one is finishing undergraduate work. When nearing completion of an undergraduate degree people ask, “What are you going to do?” but everyone already has some idea what a seminarian is going to do, so they want to know where we are going to do what we do. Continue reading A Dave Matthew’s Life
20-year-old Issues
I grew up in the 1980s. One of the biggest moral-political issues was the pro-choice pro-life debate. Both sides had their radical fringe. Although Christians were very passionate and active, nothing really changed. More than 20 years later, while this is still a political litmus test for some, abortion is not the number one issue for many Christians, as we are now dealing with state approved homosexual marriages in this country. Continue reading 20-year-old Issues
Inspirational Leadership
Sir Ernest Shackleton was an explorer who wanted to be the first man to reach the South Pole and completely transverse Antarctica. Even today, with the NASA inspired insulated clothing we can purchase at REI, traversing Antarctica is a dangerous adventure; Shackleton’s adventure took place 100 years ago. He could not, of course, complete this undertaking alone, so he placed the following ad in a London newspaper. “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful.”* That is not a help-wanted ad that many of us would quickly respond to, even if we badly needed a job. Shackleton received thousands of responses! They were inspired an adventure, and a leader they believed in. Continue reading Inspirational Leadership
Guided Bible Reading
Three weeks ago I signed up to be a part of Lectio: Guided Bible Reading. I considered blogging about it immediately, just in case others wanted to sign up, but since I had not used it before, I thought I should check it out first. I have enjoyed it, so here is the rundown.
Unity in Diversity
My thoughts on Acts 15 and Ephesians 4 as the Church Leaders’ Dialogue approaches. Continue reading Unity in Diversity
My Big Vision for the Wesleyan Church
The Wesleyan Church is hosting a Church Leaders’ Dialogue that I have been highly encouraged to be a part. Unfortunately, I just do not have the vacation time, nor time in my school schedule, to travel to Indiana. For this particular dialogue, African-American pastors from our denomination have been invited to attend. This is one of several steps The Wesleyan Church is taking to continue to move toward a church that reflects Revelation 7:9. Continue reading My Big Vision for the Wesleyan Church
Evolving, Humans and Theology
Lately, I have come across several news stories regarding evolution and the fossil record (IO9, Yahoo News, Life Science). Normally, this is not a subject that I spend a lot of time on unless I happen to be teaching a class on Genesis, but between the news articles and a fantastic piece from Rachel Held Evans’ summer “Ask a . . .” series (check the whole series out, they are great!) entitled Ask an Evolutionary Creationist, the topic has been on my mind.
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| Picard and Q on primordial earth from the ST:TNG episode “All Goog Things.” Q’s line as they look into the ooze where life is to begin is classic. “Aw, nothing happened.” |
Hairballs and Small Groups
My cat coughed up a massive nasty hairball the other night.He was not trying to gross me out; he was just being a cat. In fact, he would have probably gotten sick if he had not been able to expel that hairball, so he got it out, and I cleaned it up. I did not scold him for not going outside to get sick. Afterwards, he felt a lot better, and fell asleep on my lap. The next day, he was out again keeping our neighborhood free of mice.
