When I was in seminary, we learned how to become detectives as it related to scripture. We were taught to ask questions about the author’s intended message, and to gain insights into how his own readers would have heard and understood it. And generally speaking, we explored the texts according to five categories, or...
A Seven-Week Advent Redux When I was growing up, there were certain things you just couldn’t buy on Sunday. Entire sections of department stores were simply roped off, and retailers respected the rhythms (and boundaries) of the religious and secular holiday seasons. We didn’t see Christmas displays or hear Christmas music or notice any...
On June 19, 2021, I celebrated –– albeit quietly –– my eleventh ordination anniversary. On September 18, I celebrated –– also quietly –– my tenth anniversary of serving Ascension Lutheran Church and The Church of the Holy Cross. On November 18, 2021, Joel and I will have been “together” for twenty-one years and married...
Those of you who read the MailChimp email I sent on August 22nd, or who heard or read my sermon on the August 29th know that change is afoot. It began on April 15, when the Rev. Canon Val Ambrose (of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan) had a Zoom meeting with several of...
Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem which was first published in 1889… entitled The Ballad of East and West. Although I don’t remember it ever being read to me, I do remember from childhood the first line… it goes “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” I wonder if I...