Pentecost Reading

Members of Christian Century have done some great work writing for Pentecost. Below are links to those members who have written something special. Dancing on Saturday is featured as well. Thanks to Gordon Atkinson for putting all these together. Come, Holy Spirit, Come.  
When Love Comes to Town [...]

Revelation 6-9: Reflections

I owe the bulk of this material to a wonderful commentary by Mitchell Reddish simply titled, Revelation.  It is one of the best I have read to date and worth every penny.   It even comes with a CD-ROM with maps, pictures and the entire commentary in PDF format.    
The first few lessons have [...]

Pastor: An Introduction

 
What follows are two perspectives on the introduction to Will Willimon’s book, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry. Over the course of the next few weeks, Tom Parkinson and myself will write on each chapter (see a listing of chapters here:  Welcome to the Discussion).  We intend to have a new chapter published [...]

Pastor: Welcome to the Discussion

As of late there has been a lot of talk around the blogosphere concerning ordination.  Whether you are a pastor, aspire to be one, or vowed to never be one, this is a discussion worth having.   There are some important questions to be considered, some of which include: What does it mean to be [...]

The Grace of Running

A few weeks ago I began training for my first marathon.   On November 8, 2009, I will run in the OBX Marathon on the Outer Banks, NC.   To those who ask the obvious question, “Why?” (I didn’t even own a pair of running shoes until 3 weeks ago) I can only answer that [...]

Pentecost: The Incarnate Tongue

This is a repost with some revisions for Pentecost Sunday…
Last year our family visited a church in Raleigh to listen to an Ethiopian Gospel choir.    I wasn’t expecting to personally get much out of this concert other than to enjoy the enjoyment of Sophie and Eli, our two adopted children from Ethiopia.  A few minutes [...]

Amendment One (Without the Baggage)

A colleague of mine, Rev. Andrew Thompson, has written a very insightful essay critiquing the first of 32 amendments to be voted on in our upcoming UMC Annual Conferences.   It is certainly worth the read.   You can find it here:
Amendment One (Without The Baggage)
Andrew’s blog can be found here:  Gen-X Rising

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Why The UMC Should Not Create Regional Conferences: Repost

*This is reposted for reasons of font issues*
My friend Tom Parkinson, fellow Duke Div student and candidate for ordination in the UMC, has written a thoughtful, insightful essay about the upcoming amendments to be voted on at Annual Conference this summer.   He has asked me to post it on my blog as a means to encourage [...]

The Grace of Gardening II

This is part of a series.  Feel free to also visit Grace of Gardening and Grace of Seeing.
Yesterday I spent a few hours in the garden doing some serious weeding.   Who knew grass could grow so quickly?  I admit I have been a bit negligent over the past week or two keeping up with [...]

The Need For “Sinful” Denominations

Ordination along with denominations have received quite a beating in the blogosphere over the last week.   If you don’t know what I am talking about visit Pomomusings or Greg Bolt’s blog for a good overview with links to sites where this discussion is ongoing.
As I peruse the comments this topic [...]

An Emerging Mess

An Emerging Mess

Last week Tony Jones, the de facto bishop of the emerging church, started a petition to ordain his friend Adam Walker Cleaveland.  Adam, it turns out, has been delayed (note: not denied) in his journey towards being ordained in the PC(USA), a denomination he has been part of for quite some time [...]

It Ain’t About You: Worship Through the Eyes of St. John the Divine

It is impossible to read Revelation without encountering the theme of worship.  Worship, both good and bad, dominates John’s imagination as he writes his apocalypse.  One might say that the Book of Revelation is to the early church what the Book of Worship is to us Methodists.  Nothing against the latter, but the former could, [...]