Priority drift and how to fix it

“Priority drift.” I made that phrase up to describe the state I found myself in a couple of weeks ago.  Simply put:  my priorities had drifted.  I found myself spread too thin, doing too many good things, and not doing the things I felt called — even compelled — to do. What did I do?  [...]

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How churches might face the coming crises

(A couple of days ago I wrote about several converging crises — energy, economy, and environment. Since then the price of gas has gone down! Proof that I was wrong. Not! As a nation we are so shell-shocked by the energy crisis that we think a 10-cent reduction in the price of gas is a [...]

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Church at the end of oil and other crises

Last November, I posed the question, “If gas hits $4/gal, what will your church do?” We are beyond $4/gallon gas now, and the future looks different than we ever thought it would just a couple of years back. But, there are other crises which will affect churches in the next few years: The gap in [...]

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Do some things for fun

Last Wednesday night we had a cookout at our church. Not a new idea or big news, but it was fun. Fun, despite the fact that we had to move inside from the town park next door because rain was on the way. Fun, even though we were jammed into our old fellowship hall because [...]

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Jesus on death row

Thursday night the commonwealth of Virginia executed Christopher Scott Emmett. Emmett was convicted in the 2001 bludgeoning murder of his co-worker Mr. Langley. Apparently Mr. Emmett was guilty. It took a jury less than an hour to convict him. Mr. Emmett killed for his victim’s wallet — so he could buy crack cocaine. One of [...]

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Build it and they will come, but somebody has to run it

About 30 years ago, lots of churches bought into the myth that building a gym was the answer to all their outreach woes.  Churches thought “build it and they will come” long before Ray Kinsella made it popular in Field of Dreams.  But in real life, somebody has to be there to run the place [...]

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Confessions of a Small-Temple Buddhist Priest

Title sound familiar? Well, apparently Buddhists in Japan are facing the same challenges as small churches in the US. Listen to this from the New York Times article, “In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out:” Across Japan, Buddhism faces a confluence of problems, some familiar to religions in other wealthy nations, others unique to the [...]

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Sermon: Setting Your Mind On the Spirit

Setting Your Mind on the Spirit Romans 8:1-11 NRSV8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened [...]

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Could it shake your faith in the resurrection?

Time magazine and other media outlets are reporting on a tablet of stone inscribed with ink that might contain a pre-Christian resurrection story.  Or it might not, depending upon what scholar you listen to.  The tablet, called Gabriel’s Revelation by archaeologists, may contain lines that hint that a certain Jew would be killed, but raised [...]

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Sermon: Why Did I Do That?

Why Did I Do That? Romans 7:15-25 NIV 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, [...]

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