I have an app that grants its users virtual rewards for performing real self-care tasks. “Wake up!” it chirps at me each morning, followed by “Make your bed!” and “Enjoy […]
Once when my middle-school daughter was nervous about speaking in public, I gave her timeless advice: “Just picture the crowd in their underwear.” With a quick wit, she responded, “But […]
My wife often proclaims, “We are not red people or blue people, we are God’s people!” These days, when she starts this sentence from the pulpit, her congregation recites it […]
A friend of mine said her garden looked sad in a particular corner that was shaded. No blooms, even though there were blooms abundant elsewhere in the garden. I have […]
Why would you ever talk to them? There are lots of those folks. The writer of Mark calls them “tax collectors.” I have other names for them. You do, too. Just imagine […]
I was tempted to skip this particular passage, or to follow it with nothing but a blank devotional—the visual version of a woman being silent in church. But instead, I’d […]
In May, I was blessed to go to Japan through the UCC Board of Global Ministries. I studied the rich and complex history of the church in Japan, volunteered with […]
There was a moment circa 1995 when everybody was inexplicably listening to Gregorian chant. Some Spanish monks had released this album, Chant, and it became a multiplatinum bestseller. I don’t […]
The cozy white church is miles from any town on a long stretch of country road. When I first arrived as pastor and looked around, I noticed a portable toilet […]
The first-ever-recorded Category 5 June hurricane appeared earlier this summer. Hurricane Beryl started in Africa and traveled 6,000 miles through the Caribbean, Texas, and the Midwest before drowning its two […]
