If we confess our sins, our Bibles say in 1st John 1:9, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrightousness. Most of us love that. Especially the bit about how God will forgive us our sins. We quickly get to that part. But we run away from how that…

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? — God, Isaiah 43:19 God’s very much in the ongoing present mode in Isaiah 43:19…“I am doing” and “Now” and “Do you”…. Today’s a great day for you and me to stop drowning in the past or wishing for the future.…

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? — God, Isaiah 43:19 It’s happening, so let’s watch for it today.

Where and when are you church? Picking up where we left off last Sunday, the next Paragraph (121)  in our current Book of Discipline says, with my highlights,– “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by proclaiming the good news of God’s grace and by…

He said, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. “And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed. “By believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.” That’s how The Message version of The Bible presents John 3:16. And then in…

  I was reading an online discussion among church leaders about our upcoming national election. This comment stopped me cold: Makes me glad I left church, hearing how you all are talking to each other. Yikes. Is there an echo in here? I recall reading something about this in that big leather-bound book  — We…

Please permit me to repeat what I posted on social media about last night — I’ve been honored to serve many excellent congregations…but I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of a church than I am right now sitting in this Town Hall Meeting on Recycling with some of the people who are Effingham…

Justin Gatlin recently won a silver medal in the 100m race at the 2016 Olympics, finishing second to Usain Bolt. No disgrace there at all. Earlier in his atheltic career, however, there were allegations and suspensions related to some performance enhancing drug issues. Chris Collinsworth interviewed Gatlin in Rio and asked him what had been the lowest point…

I thought we were finished with our intergenerational small group time. Then a six year old spoke up to correct me: “We haven’t gone around the table, Joe.” Confused and replaying her line in my head, I was glad when her mom interrupted the awkward silence to explain. She said, “We have to do this every…

See, I am doing a new thing! — God, Isaiah 43:19 It’s the start of a new work week. Whether we’re ready or not, God really is doing a new thing today. Is that exciting or scary?