Ever wonder what is behind the certainty that some Christians claim they have about things that are impossible to verify? Obviously, it takes faith to be a person of faith. But, I am thinking about folks who claim they understand God’s position on every point of doctrine and every contemporary… Continue reading
In the summer, I was free to roam the entirety of the tiny Midwestern village, and do things with my favorite person on earth, my Grandpa. But fishing with Grandpa was the best thing ever. He got excited about fishing. I got excited about fishing. There was over sixty years… Continue reading
It’s tidy to reduce our faith to an intellectual exercise of systematic theology and positions on various topics. You can make a checklist to see if someone is right or wrong. It’s tidy to categorize the losers who get it wrong. You’re right, they’re wrong! Done. But love is always… Continue reading
I am writing a novel. It’s one of my many pursuits, right now. I am not sure where it is going, I just know it is therapy for me. It’s only been recently that I have ever thought about writing fiction. Not long ago I never thought I could write… Continue reading
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman I that is true, then I have been at least half dead now for quite awhile. My focus has been… Continue reading
For years I have wondered what faith in Jesus looks like, not faith in the church, or faith in Bible, or faith in doctrine, or faith in ritual, but faith in Jesus. This thing called Christianity has played fast and loose with faith in Jesus for a long, long time.… Continue reading
This post is part of the July 2015 synchroblog that invited bloggers to write about “What It Means To Be Pro-Life.” My fifty-seven year-old friend has been fighting for her life for over a month and half, after having emergency surgery to repair complications from a previous surgery. She is… Continue reading
Here is a convenient way to decide who is “in” and who is “out,” who we will love, and who we will hate (or disregard.) Stick a label on them. We have liberals, conservatives, progressives, Calvinists, Hyper-Calvinists, moderate-Calvinists, pre-tribulationalists, post-tribulationalists, mid-tribulationalists, Armenians, fundamentalists, denominationalists, Methodists, Baptists (Southern, General, Regular, Independent,… Continue reading
Where I live in the upper Midwest/Great Lakes region, we are experiencing a summer we thought would never come. It was a full month late, with the dependably warm weather not kicking in until July. It’s so funny because July and August are crammed full of fairs and outdoor festivals,… Continue reading
Sam My Grandpa made everything better. He was my favorite person in the whole world. Somehow, he merged a stern German demeanor with a tender, yet manly love. As I look back, I think I was special to him, like he was to me. Six-foot-tall. Back straight as a broomstick.… Continue reading
Everyone likes winning. But, every time someone wins, someone, or several someones loose. The thrill of winning, usually keeps us from thinking about the losers. Victory trumps empathy. It just feels good being right. Having the right answer, being correct, being the most astute, identifying with the right group, being a… Continue reading
Hold on! I am going to cover a lot of ground in just a few words. We all have our narrative, our story. That story forms a grid through which we witness events and develop opinions. Our stories are very powerful as a means of communication. That’s why a good… Continue reading
This post is part of the July 2015 synchroblog that invited bloggers to write about “Gay Marriage.” Honestly, I have been able to avoid this topic. So, what you read here is me “writing out loud,” trying to “process” my way through it. Is it right or wrong? Many Christians,… Continue reading
You may hate me after you read this. If you do, you won’t be alone. My hate mail file has suddenly gotten rather thick, after a recent post. For decades, I have endured the disdain of church members who felt their church was drifting out of their control under my… Continue reading
We make messes. We all do. We fail. We disappoint others, and even ourselves. We wreck havoc in our own lives, and in the lives of the people who look up to us. All of us do, to varying degrees. Some failures are subtle incidents of inappropriateness. Others are blaring… Continue reading
This post is a follow-up to “Preoccupied Pastor.” I’m not there yet, but I have mellowed out tremendously. I wonder why? Well, I couldn’t have been wound much tighter. Mostly, I mellowed out because I had no choice. Things happened, unexpected, unwanted things. Different kinds of people came into my… Continue reading
I am absent minded! I loose tract of my eyeglasses and my beverage everyday. When I get ready to go somewhere, I often return to the house from the garage to pick up something I should have taken with me. Behind the wheel, if I am in conversation, or deep… Continue reading
Another “Arizona Sun” in my yard I have turned into the family gardener. Over the last two years, we have pulled out twenty-six, huge bushes that were about forty years old and replanted those areas with things we like a lot better. One of those plants was a pretty little… Continue reading
“Responsibility” is a heavy-sounding word. But assuming personal responsibility is about freedom (a lighter-sounding word.) When you have freedom, you get responsibility along with it. If no one is mandating what to do, you need to figure it out for yourself. You need to be responsible with your freedom. You… Continue reading
God gets blamed for more stuff that anyone I know. People have claimed that God told them all manner of things, from committing murder, to all out international war, to making just plain stupid and hurtful decisions. Sometimes, God gets credit for things he didn’t do. I have heard so… Continue reading
That’s what Elle Luna’s mother used to tell her. Elle is the author of the book, The Crossroads of Should and Must, a book I own, and will soon read. What does it mean when someone says, “You should…?” Let’s take a peek at what is implied by those words.… Continue reading
What does that look like when you chisel away all of the centuries of extraneous stuff, and it’s just you and Jesus in real life? If you jettison the hierarchy, the cathedrals, the massive church campuses, the official clergy, the budgets, the billions of dollars, the stereotypes, the expectations, the… Continue reading
I love Kenosha. Sometimes I play a little mental game, dreaming about what I would do if I were King of Kenosha. I chose king as my imaginary title, instead of a more realistic one, like mayor, city administrator, community development director, or councilman. That way I don’t have to… Continue reading
I thought I had the cap on the jug of citronella oil, but, in fact, it was just setting on jug, and it was not twisted on. After putting some oil in a patio torch, I put it back on the shelf in the garage. Well, almost. It slipped out… Continue reading
Life is divided into the secular and sacred. Sacred refers to the separate, the holy, something dedicated to a deity or religion. Secular refers to the common, or worldly things. How did we ever come up with that heresy? If there is anything true about the way of Jesus, it… Continue reading
It seems like atheists and fundamentalists would be at the opposite ends of spectrum of religious belief. But are they? I was forced to think about mystery and certainty when writing a a chapter for a new book. That’s when it hit me. Atheists and fundamentalists both have a fondness for… Continue reading
Yeah! I can’t believe it either! It’s 85 degrees! It’s only hit 70 a couple of times so far this year, here close to that big drink of water, called Lake Michigan. Living here has made me cynical. Is spring (our weirdest and almost non-existent season) really here, or are… Continue reading
Modern life is lived in boxes. We live in a box, called a home, or an apartment. We get into boxes with wheels on them (Have you ever seen a Honda Element? I rest my case!) to go to boxes where we work. They are even called, cubicles. If we… Continue reading
Have you ever taken a bite out of a perfectly ripened peach that was hanging from a tree jut a short time ago? There is a certain stance you need to assume when eating a good peach, so the juice doesn’t drip all over you, but it may still run… Continue reading
I had a pastor friend whose church (Grace Church) merged with another church (New Life Church.) They called the new, joint congregation, Grace Life. I like that! What does a grace life look like? If I took this grace thing seriously, I would be at peace with myself. I would… Continue reading
I am fascinated by the myriad of ways that people express their faith within the parameters of a particular religion. In my journey of the last several years, I have connected with so many people who have gown weary of how they have been practicing their religion. Hence, the conversation… Continue reading
Jesus really messed things up! God becoming a baby, being born to an unmarried teenager, loving all of the wrong people…prostitutes, greedy cheaters, traitors, rough, angry blue collar types, beggars, deformed people, individuals with disgusting diseases, terrorists, and soldiers of the occupying super power. He deliberately reached out to people that his… Continue reading
Easter is Super Bowl Sunday for Christians; only there is no question about who wins. Easter gives us bragging rights. “The leader of our religion is the only one who didn’t stay dead. He’s a live!” And there are plenty of implications that flow from that fact. Jesus is God.… Continue reading
Here is a copy of my column from Monday’s Kenosha News. I never thought about Leonard Nimoy dying, even after he was recently admitted to the hospital suffering from COPD at eighty-three years of age. He was Mr. Spock for Pete sake! As Mr. Spock, he just got cooler as… Continue reading
It happened yesterday at the car wash: an unpleasant encounter. Oddly, the incident involved an employee, the guy who scrubs up your car as you enter and dries it off as you exit. I don’t normally use this car wash, because gas is more expensive at the adjoining gas station.… Continue reading
Grace is the most counter-intuitive, mysterious thing in the world. It doesn’t make any sense at all. Christians seem to be particularly confused and conflicted about grace. Yet, they sing about it, preach about it, and would fight other Christians who disagreed with them about it. They say grace refers to… Continue reading
I first heard the term this morning on a radio show. It is a subconscious prejudice that is inadvertently expressed. The topic captures my attention for several reasons. I grew up being influenced by the accepted racism of my parents’ generation. As a pastor, I finally had my eyes opened… Continue reading
Labels are good on cans, but bad when applied to people. Canned goods are simpler and purer than people. Tomatoes means tomatoes, and beans means beans. You are able to determine what is in the can by its label. When you get home from the grocery store, you can put… Continue reading
Giving money and possessions to others is a sign that our heart is in the right place. Paying our bills is good, too, and an important responsibility. When we are trying to sort out our finances, that’s the obvious place to start. Maybe, we can lower our bills. Also, good.… Continue reading
Churches didn’t just come up with the offering idea, as a way to keep things going. The idea of religious donations has a long history. Tithing, or giving one tenth of your income is a very ancient practice, even predating the Mosaic Law. Abraham tithed to the mysterious King Melchizedek,… Continue reading
I would abolish political parties. The founding fathers warned against them. They polarize the nation and corrupt politicians who have tow the party line to get the funding necessary to win an election. I would allow legislators to organize around coalitions, permitting them to work together on a couple of… Continue reading
All of the photos of are of the vintage garden apartment where I wrote this post. For the last couple of days, I have done pretty much nothing. It’s called a vacation, really, a three-day mini get-a-way. We came to place where there is nothing to do, and are staying in a… Continue reading
Living out your faith is not rocket science. You don’t need somebody to tell you to do it. You certainly don’t need an organization, or a program to be loving and caring toward people. You simply need to realize it’s up to you, and then, live your life with your… Continue reading
Back in the day, this question would have seemed absurd to me, but not anymore. Millions of people are indeed holding onto their faith without being a part of the church, more all the time. But what does it look like when we don’t outsource our spiritual expression to an… Continue reading
So, what does this “free range believer,” this “being the church, rather than going to church” look like? How can it have a relational aspect? You are free to focus on the people in your world by taking time to notice them, engaging with them whenever you can, loving them unconditionally,… Continue reading
Here is the possible beginning of a novel i have been working on, though this part is very rooted in my 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… Continue reading
Scholars understand the birthday of the church to on be the Day of Pentecost, as described in Acts 2. It was the Jewish feasts that celebrated the harvest, so Jewish people from all over were in Jerusalem. The Apostle Peter began to preach to the crowd about Jesus and how prophecy… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
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. We speak up with great indignation, believing we are calling attention to… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
