Glenn Hager
An Irreligious Faith
Speaking & Consulting
An Irreligious Faith
- Doug Worgul, author of Thin Blue Smoke (Burnside Books)
No Hands
Here is the possible beginning of novel, though this part is very rooted in reality. I’m flying! A ten-year old cruising down the hill of State Route O in Cosby, Missouri with no hands on the handlebars is flying. I was free. I didn’t feel that much in the city where…
Condensed Church History
Scholars understand the birthday of the church to on be the Day of Pentecost, as described in Acts 2. It was one of the Jewish feasts celebrating the harvest, so Jewish people from all over were in Jerusalem. The Apostle Peter began to preach to the crowd about Jesus and how…
Storytelling
I want to be a good storyteller. It’s a big paradigm shift for me. Most of my life I have been a nonfiction reader. As a pastor, I wanted to learn how to be a better pastor, so that’s what I read about. As a writer a writer, I…
The Death of Truth
Truth is dead. Apparently, we don’t need it anymore. Instead, we contort what little we know about an incident to support our preconceived viewpoint. Our minds are made up before we even become fully aware of the facts. Then, we speak up with great indignation, believing we are calling attention…
Things I Don’t Ever Want to Forget
It’s hard to remember, and it’s not just due to my age, or getting so lost in a thought that I forgot which route I took to get home. Our culture is not given to remembering. It’s more about what’s trending on Twitter at very this moment. So, this month’s…
Some People are Asses
PPerhaps, the best (and worst) thing about being a pastor was the people. Probably, everyone could say the same thing, not just pastors and church-going folks. But pastoring a small church is a relationally intensive endeavor. I loved so many of the friends I made in those years as a pastor,…
Trials and Tribulations
Within days, the sump pump quit, as did the furnace. The toilet overflowed. The car still won’t start, and the furnace went out again this morning when it was -9. There was also a big disappointment concerning a business opportunity, and a few other things happened that seemed to do…
Glenn Hager
I encourage marginalized people. That’s why I wrote a book called, An Irreligious Faith. After all, there are 38 million individuals in the United States who stopped attending church in the last decade alone. So, I mustered all of the honesty and wit I could to tell my story of…
An Irreligious Faith
Interested in Jesus, but not the church? Used to go, but not anymore? Find the whole church scene irrelevant? Good! You may be one of the 38 million individuals who stopped attending church in the last decade in The U.S. With honesty and a wry wit, Glenn Hager tells his…
Speaking & Consulting
I believe that we should learn from our experiences, and then help others who are on a similar journey. So, I am drawing on over twenty years of experience as a pastor, fourteen years of experience in forging a faith that is real, and several years of helping people who…
A Churchless Faith
How do you live a life of faith without the help of the church? It is a relevant question many for the thirty-eight million people who have dropped out of church in the last decade, part of a total of 156 million unchurched Americans. Incidentally, most all of them have…
Christmas Prayer
God become man. Entering the world in the most humble manner. Defying religious preconceptions. Shocking people with his radical way of loving them in spite of their shortcomings. Suffering constant misunderstanding and persecution. Finally, he was tortured to death. But that was not the end, because… Now, his death is our redemption.…
My Addiction
Ah ha! Gotcha! You thought this post was going to reveal some deep, dark secret about me. It sort of does. I have a confession. Hello, my name is Glenn, and I am addicted to writing. Oh, the weight that was just lifted from my shoulders! I have been…
The Paradox of Christmas
Our culture’s way of celebrating Christmas is to cram as much in it as possible, while exhorting us to reflect on its deep meaning in relationship to faith and family. It’s like mixing oil and water, or Nat King Cole and Miley Cyrus. It’s impossible! “More” is the mantra of…
The Man of God Myth
It is hard to find grace when it is desperately needed, like when a pastor or other spiritual leader is discovered to have been abusive toward those who looked up to him and depended upon him. How can you possibly pull together an appropriate balance of accountability and restoration in…
The Death of Truth (Version 1)
We have suffered perhaps the greatest loss a society can bear. Truth has died. Politicians and pundits killed it. Spin won out over facts. Strident, closed-minded opinions trumped careful, open-minded consideration. Here in the U.S we have just endured another midterm campaign season of mudslinging. Unfortunately, it is nothing new,…
Labels
Labels are great for canned goods, but horrible when applied to people. Human beings are too complex to label, plus it is judgmental to try pigeon hole them. While it is helpful to have opinions and to assess situations, it is unfair to broadly assign traits to entire groups of…
Puppy Love
Boyd & Ava chillin’ in a chair I didn’t know if it would work. We had inherited two long-haired Chihuahuas. Due to no fault of their own, we were their fourth home. They are siblings, brother and sister. While they are off-the-charts cute, they are also needy, attention hogs,…
Was Jesus Religious?
Here is my most recent column in The Kenosha News. Don’t talk about religion or politics. People tend to have strong opinions about these matters, and they really don’t want to re-examine what they believe. Their minds are made up. Today, I am ignoring the sage advice to write about…
Don’t Tell Me What to Do
It has recently occurred to me that I am adverse to people telling me what to do. You may think I am just a rebellious, non-compliant, cranky old codger. And you might be right, but I think there is something else at play here. I grew up with an abundance…
When Mental Illness Strikes Home
I talked to my Dad last Saturday on his eighty-eighth birthday, and he was surprising like his old self, chatty and congenial. What a relief! For so much of his recent years he has lived in a state of agitation. Contentment has been something he rarely experienced. Hence, much of…
Why Are Bars More Accepting than Churches?
John Donne was right, no man is an island. Even a casual reading of scripture reveals God’s heart for connection with us, and how he hardwired us for linking with other human beings. Relationships are probably the source of our greatest joys, and our greatest heartaches. But, if we isolate…
Can We Even Talk About Racial Issues?
As I thought about this month’s synchroblog, focused on race, violence, and the need to talk about it, there were four really big issues came to mind. Working on them has to be part of a way forward that moves us violence and obliviousness to understanding and action. White people…
A Need to be Needed by Needy People
My wife and I have been foster parents for two long-haired Chihuahuas for a couple of months. I renamed them, Boyd and Ava, after two outlaws on the TV show, Justified. They have had a storied history in their brief lives and are now on their fourth home, due to…
Dealing with Parents’ Dementia
Yesterday, my Dad was kicked out of his nursing home due to bad behavior. Today, he is being transported to a Geriatric Psych Unit, a few miles from his home. His diagnosis: Vascular Dementia. Patty’s Mom had the same diagnosis. Mom’s was caused by a stroke induced by a common…
Nurture Your Soul
This is the end of the chapter in my new book (the one I am writing now) on nurturing your soul. Spiritual formation requires something of us. It requires discipline. In fact, ongoing practices that help nurture spiritual formation are called disciplines. They are things you do intentionally and repeatedly that…
Do We Live in the Last Days?
Does it really matter? In my pastor years I had a couple of very dear friends who focused upon biblical prophecy and current events. They were convinced we were indeed living in the last days, and that the rapture could well happen in their lifetimes. Yesterday, a lady at the…
Now It’s Your Turn!
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The Salvation Thing
I used to have this down pat. God loves man. Man rebelled against God. Jesus died for us. We need to put our faith him. Period. But then came the questioning of my faith, and a more objective look at the way it is represented by institutional Christianity. The institution…
“All You Need is the Bible.” ???
That’s what the lady said, repeatedly. It was really more of a pronouncement, as she made her opinion known in a loud voice from about twelve feet away. Last Saturday at the Harbor Market amidst meaningful conversations with people interested in An Irreligious Faith, I had an interesting encounter. A lady…
The Dog Days of Summer
It’s humid, sticky, sultry. It’s summer, the end of summer. For kids, the freedom of June has turned to into the boredom of August. They have resigned themselves to heading back to school. Parents are shelling out money hand-over-fist for clothes, school supplies, and hefty fees for every program imaginable.…
Where do you get all your faith?
It was fun meeting people the Harbor Market and talking about An Irreligious Faith. I had conversations with an atheist, a Unitarian, a missionary, and a young man grappling with his faith, among others. Someone asked me, “Where do you get all your faith?” I was stumped. I certainly, don’t…
It’s Not Your Fault
This post is part of the “Crash” synchroblog: Robin Williams Performances We Remember and Why. Twenty year-old Will Hunting (Damon) is an undiscovered mathematical genius who grew up being regularly beaten by his father. He too developed anger management issues and he had a way of torpedoing any serious relationship.…
Heartbroken
People around the world have become a part of the community of the shocked and heartbroken, as they grapple with the death of their beloved, frenetic comedian and Academy Award-winning actor, Robin Williams. We all loved this guy, the comedic genius who made our heads spin, the actor who melted…
At the Harbor Market in Kenosha
That’s right, tomorrow, and most likely, every Saturday, between 9 and two, from now and mid-October, I will be at the always fun Harbor Market with my book, An Irreligious Faith. It will be cool talking to people and personalizing their copy with a note and signature. The book has really…
The Days of our Youth
I just began watching the CNN series on the sixties. Then Friday night, I happened on to a documentary of Elvis touring the nation in 1972. I finished off the evening watching a portion of the 1956 movie, Around the World in Eighty Days on TCM. This is not normal…
On The Drew Marshall Show!
Yeah, I was on the radio, talking about An Irreligious Faith. The radio show host, Drew Marshall is a fun and fascinating guy who asks great questions and runs a fast-paced show, interviewing all manner of authors, musicians, and celebs on “Canada’s most listened to spiritual talk show,” broadcast live to southern…
Me and My Mantra
A mantra is an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often a truism. Mine is: Nurture you soul. Love people. Pursue your heart. It’s my memo to me. It’s amazingly simple, but incredibly easy to stray from. When I don’t follow it, my life gets out of kilter, in a hurry. Nurture Your Soul Most often forgotten is…
Rebel
Christians don’t understand liberty…at all! Out of one side of their mouth, they speak of freedom in Christ, and, out the other, they tell you what they need to do and what you must avoid. In other words, like the Pharisees of old, they place a heavy bondage on the…
Why You Should Read, “An Irreligious Faith”
You have some questions. You wonder about what it means to live life in the way of Jesus, but haven’t found what you’re looking for in the church. You have honest questions about the faith, but haven’t found them welcomed (or answered.) You are puzzled by the gap between the…
Make Your Own Cheese
Here is my column from Monday’s Kenosha News. Being Wisconsin, I could have titled this column “Make Your Own Beer,” but there is a fair chance you are already doing that. Or, I might have used the headline “Make Your Own Sausage,” but nobody really wants to see sausage being made.…
Road Trips and Life Lessons
A two-week trip to Florida and a five-day trip to Missouri, all in the last four weeks, qualify me as a road warrior. I generally like road trips because they help to clear my mind. The solitary ones give me time for thinking and praying. The ones with Patty, time…
Grandpa
My mother’s dad was a six foot tall, straight-standing German, the first generation born in the U.S. As a kid, I was fascinated by the fact that he served as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in WWI, and once met General John J.“Black Jack” Pershing, the commander of U.S. forces in…
Cash
This week I will be posting the best of from my “people” category. I hope you enjoy it! Like everybody else, I have favorite bands and musical artists that I like to listen to and I try to poke around on itunes every now and then searching for new artists,…
Beach Life
The Gulf of Mexico makes a great backyard, though it’s a lot different than life on the Wisconsin/Illinois border near the perpetual chill of Lake Michigan. Palm trees replaced maples. Sand, instead of grass was the new lawn. Lush tropical vegetation flushed, instead of evergreens, still half dead from the…
If I Followed Jesus, I Would…
What does it mean for me to follow Jesus? If I think about it in daily life, nitty-gritty terms, it looks something like this: I would stop worrying about the church and would not confuse it with Jesus or his kingdom. I would realize following Jesus is a personal matter…
What Changes Us?
To the best of my knowledge, there is no definitive answer to the question, “What changes our life for the better?” Here is what I know. People inspire people. Programs seldom ever do. I remember teachers who were passionate about their subject, and caring toward me, more than I remember…
Cool / Not Cool
Let’s play “Cool / Not Cool.” Cool: Female Not Cool: Male Women are cool because they can do anything a man can do, and do it better. Men are not cool because they have repressed women for centuries. They are over-sexed buffoons, controlled by their physical urges. It has been…
The Jesus Agenda
Jesus was not only counterintuitive back in his day, even today there is still a gigantic contrast between his ways and the ways of the religion that goes by his name. The Non-Agenda We have sacred creeds, sacred places of worship, sacred objects, and sacred leaders or clergy. Jesus had…
“Life-changing!”
Spiritual formation not all relationally oriented. We are personally responsible for our own growth and nurture. We have to take care of ourselves, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Nobody else can or will do that for us. It is our personal responsibility. If we don’t do it, we will not…