Remember Laura and Rob Petri? Characters played by Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke? An old black and white TV show with his name in the title? The opening credit sequence? Him stumbling over part of a living room chair? Felt like that again today. Tripped over Proverbs 18:2 and went splat. A fool…

Jason Moore is a colleague who posted this today —- For all who know me, it is no secret that I feel most at home in the UMC and plan to stay. There is reform and revitalization that needs to happen, and I hope we’ll work toward that in a post-separation church. I’ve also been…

We were married at Patty‘s church 25 years ago today. Never knew I could be this happy! The Gift of Love was a congregational song that was part of our wedding. As our anniversary gift to you, we invite you to take a moment with these lyrics which so perfectly match this melody. Go ahead…

Sign in front Sue Busler’s church in Worden —- What are you doing for heavens sake?

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on…

William Boyd Grove, a/k/a My Breakfast Friend (you gotta hear that story), posted this earlier today — As a member of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church for 42 years, this week I attended one of the most Spirit led meetings of the Council I have ever attended. Superbly led by our…

It happened again yesterday. I was zooming along, nothing to do with an online meeting app, simply working away. Ideas were flowing from my pen to the page when the ink started to get faint. Then there was no more. I could press really hard and make indentations in my notebook, but no ink. I…

Eric Swanson, friend and colleague, posted this recently —- I find this fascinating and frustrating. Some of the largest United Methodist Churches have left, not on ideological/theological issues but largely it appears like pastors who wanted to take their church and leave. This hits at the GMC/WCA as well as at the UMC. As a…

“The Church was never built for our pleasure,” said guest preacher Bishop Holston while preaching at our Annual Conference on June 9th. Imagine that. He went on, “The Church was built for God’s purpose.” Imagine that? Does what we do as parts of The Church demonstrate that or not? Imagine if….

Jim McIlrath lived this, wrote about it, and has graciously given me his expressed permission to share it with you here — “Theres a dead boy at the pool!” she screamed as she ran into the lobby of the Holiday Inn in BirminghamIt was 1975, Debbie and i were married just over a year. We…