O God of earth and altar,Bow down and hear our cry,Our earthly rulers falter,Our people drift and die; The walls of gold entomb us,The swords of scorn divide,Take not your thunder from us,but take away our pride! From all that … Continue reading
I was excited about the opportunity to celebrate my son’s transition from boyhood to manhood. We planned two days in the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York. After that, our itinerary called for two days in … Continue reading
I just finished reading Jemar Tisby’s book, The Color of Compromise. I first heard about this book last summer. The Staff at Estes Park Leadership Training worked through the material week-by-week as a group. And the book seemed to prompt so many … Continue reading
I’ve been stewing on Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain (recorded in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke) for several days now. It’s unsettling — but in a good way. I don’t want to rush to a point of … Continue reading
We’ve been disconnected. Part of the disconnection is by design. I handed over my ministry responsibilities to others for a couple of weeks. I turned on an Auto-Reply for my email. I muted a bunch of my GroupMe channels. These … Continue reading
We gave Elliot (our oldest child) the option to start using social media on his 16th Birthday. To our surprise, however, he stayed away from platforms like Instagram and Snapchat for more than two years. We actually encouraged him to … Continue reading
Our church has not done much in the way of live-streaming worship gatherings. Not before the COVID-19 pandemic, and not during the COVID-19 pandemic, either. There are a lot of reasons for this — and perhaps I’ll take some time … Continue reading
At the beginning of 2020, I felt like God was encouraging me to more regularly practice the spiritual discipline of silence. Consequently, I moved Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter off of the first screen on my iPhone — putting them inside … Continue reading
My heart is heavy this morning, as I’ve been processing two new stories of racial injustice that have hit the news cycle in the last couple of days. George Floyd died in the custody of police officers in Minneapolis over … Continue reading
I try really hard to dismiss judgmental thoughts toward others. But the truth is: I’m not very good at it. One person is masked and gloved and extra-vigilant for anyone stepping within a 10′ radius. And I think: “What’s up … Continue reading