I’ve dragged myself into mid-December mode the last few weeks, buying gifts and addressing cards. I am a little out of sync because of my upcoming shoulder surgery; it hasn’t been easy to skip past Thanksgiving and Chanukah, and without passing go, head directly to Christmas. I feel a little clumsy about this. The rhythms…

I remember when one of my sons came home a few years ago with an armload of vinyl LP’s. “That’s dinosaur technology,” I said.  He disagreed. He loved the warm sound (complete with a few pops and crackles), the cover art, the liner notes and the experience of holding a piece of the artist in…

I remember the stage of life where a wave of “We’re pregnant!” announcements would sweep through my circle of friends and acquaintances. It seemed that babies came in clusters, like sweet little grapes.  One of the joys of being a grandparent: walking in the woods and swapping stories Well, I’ve now come to the part…

The prayer Jesus prayed at the conclusion of the final Seder he shared with his disciples has been debated, parsed, over-theologized (no, that’s not a real word), misapplied and ignored.  And it has gone largely unanswered. True, some of us have experienced some appetizer-sized moments of brilliant oneness with other believers, but for the most…

Last week, I wrote about a pastor who’d insisted that his congregation pastor him by, among other things, shielding him from their problems so he could concentrate on visioneering. (Click here to read my original post.) I got some interesting feedback, particularly from those reading the reposts of this blog on facebook.  It led me…

Church leaders, past and present, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject. A facebook friend posted this link on his wall a couple of weeks or so ago. (It’ll take you about sixty seconds to read it. Go ahead. I’ll wait here.) Did you read it? Your thoughts? In my exchange with the…