In his book, CREDO, Bill Coffin writes: To show compassion for an individual without showing concern for the structures of society that make him an object of compassion is to be sentimental rather than loving.
What’s Happening In The Church
A church in my community recently fired its pastor. It was a small number of folks who spearheaded the effort. It’s a big church – or it was. One hundred families have left that congregation since this action. Another congregation has lost significant numbers because a conflict between a Senior Pastor and his staff resulted [...]
Live At Peace With Others
Yesterday I posted a blog about the ONEness of God. It spoke about the experience of relationship within the Trinity. Today I feel inspired to write a bit about the implications of God’s ONEness (unity of the Godhead) and what that might say about our experience of relationship with one another as human beings under [...]
The Rightous Branch
Read Isaiah 11:1-9 – Those of you who have visited our nation’s capital are aware that throughout that city, there are several statues of national and world leaders. Each statue faces the national Capitol as a symbol of honor and respect for the great power of our nation. In front of the Wesley Theological Seminary, [...]
Transforming Initiatives
The philosopher Spopenhauer once wrote: “…we are a lot like porcupines—when we move too far apart we grow cold and yearn for the warmth of other porcupines. But when we move together, our needles prick each other and we back off again.” The Bible offers a pattern for dealing with interactions with each other as [...]
The Power To Be A Peacemaker
Corrie Ten Boom shares this true story in her book, The Hiding Place: It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen [...]
Understand Others Pain
Shortly after beginning my pastoral ministry in my first congregation, Jean, the chair of the Search Committee who had brought me to that church approached me in a fit of rage. She was angry that I had forgot to observe some congregational tradition that I knew nothing about. As she spoke, her face turn bright [...]
