“It is in giving that we receive” Last time we were together here, I mentioned a song.  Its second verse: “Through all our living, we our fruits must give. Good works of service are for offering. When we are giving,…

Best sight of the day: seeing so many people with the Cross on their foreheads, singing together. Good reminder that as the song said, “We belong to God.” Even children who can’t yet read were singing those easy, recurrent words.…

“Wipe the mud off!  You’ll see the mark!” They wiped.  They saw.  And they knew the true identity of the animal. That scene from one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films is about as timely as possible today. On this Ash…

Our son Joseph picked the film, took me to his favorite theater and paid for our tickets. We  elbowed each other at key scenes and lines. We  laughed and wanted to cheer. Two sermon illustrations presented themselves onscreen; maybe four.…

I am worn out. Been listening and talking all day. It was my honor to spend the day interviewing and evaluating pastors with our District Committee on Ministry. It got pretty intense.  I loved every minute of it. We have…

 ‘The Lord your God will take great delight in you, and in his love will rejoice over you with singing.” —Zephaniah 3:17 Re-read that a couple of times. Go ahead, seriously: re-read that excerpt from that verse a couple of times.…

“Grant that I may not so much seek to be loved, as to love.” It’s been my joy to preside at more weddings than I’ll admit.  Over more years than I’ll admit. But there’s one thing I will admit: it’s…

“Are you going on to perfection?” That’s a traditional question that was part of my ordination process.  It’s been used for a couple of centuries in the Wesleyan/Methodist way of doing things. It’s asked in front of a large group…

I have her permission to tell this story. Ella is a friend who’s an attorney in the eastern part of our country. She was getting ready to head out the door on recent weekday morning.  She told her son, “We’ll play more this afternoon. …

“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek …to be understood, as to understand” It’s basic human anatomy: we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.  We all know that.  But we forget. A guy…