I’m on the hunt for some artists. Part of my teaching load this fall involves teaching a course called “Arts and Symbols in Christian Worship”. As part of my class prep, I have contacted a wide variety of people: everyone from a Greek Orthodox priest to a dramatically inclined, former college roommate who is currently…
Prayer. That’s the subject of my talk this Sunday. I’m finishing off a series in the book of James. I wish someone else was scheduled to preach that message. For me, prayer is something I know very little about. I don’t spend much time in intercession. I rarely remember to ask God for help when…
I had an interesting morning. Staff meeting was moving along at record pace. We were on track to finish in good time. I had poured myself a hot cup of coffee and was enjoying my chocolate chip cookie when it happened. Our custodian caught my eye through the glass doors. I was needed. Without…
I’m at my best when dreaming. Not a pie-in-the-sky kind of fantasizing but a “let’s pretend we relaxed the rules a bit” sort of dreaming. Of course, dreams are always best when they are grounded in a firm sense of what has happened in the past and what is currently happening in the present. When…
My office door is rarely closed. I like people and I generally don’t mind being interrupted by someone who needs my help. I think it’s because I’m an E. But not everyone is an E. Our church’s leadership team recently filled out a Myers-Briggs questionnaire. We wanted to learn about our personality differences and how we could…
Why do we invest so much time and energy on attracting people to Sunday morning church? Didn’t Jesus say “Go and make disciples….” rather than come to a religious service. I don’t really remember him advertising the local Sabbath service at the synagogue with cool newspaper ads and funny dramas. When I think about the…
Lately I’ve been reading a provocative little book called Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace by James B. Torrance. He is professor emeritus of systematic theology at the U. of Aberdeen, Scotland so it’s a bit denser than the chainsaw catalogue on our coffee table shelf. I was struck by his former prof’s ideas…
Since when has worship become so dependent on technology? Luke and I recently mounted a new widescreen video projector in the church sanctuary. As with anything “do-it-yourself” project, there were some minor glitches. For example we had to adjust the mounted projector to fill the screen, we had to do some signal checks from different…
I’ve been writing a Distance Education New Testament course since May. It’s August and I’m so close to being finished that I can almost taste it. Tonight Erika spent a much needed evening out with a friend. While she was sipping coffee, I was combing through a textbook looking for juicy test questions….