Yesterday was the Sunday for the Children’s and Youth Pageant at our church.  There were more than 30 participants in the pageant who ranged in age from 3 months old (the baby Jesus was a live baby, little Jennica, who was born in September) to 17 years old.  To say it was like herding cats would be a gross understatement!  As the…

Not only has December arrived, but so have Winter storms, shorter days, and animals whose fur has grown thick with the anticipation of colder weather.  For those of us involved in church, the Season of Advent has also arrived.  The word “advent” means “coming.”  Yesterday we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent which is always the Sunday that encourages us to look…

Some days I overwhelmingly feel the kind of sorrow I imagine God feels.  One of my professors in seminary described God as “weeping” and the image has been with me ever since.  When I heard yesterday about the 16 year old Pakistani girl who was killed by her parents for looking at a boy and when I heard this morning about 6…

In last week’s blog, I mentioned that I would be leading a Women’s Retreat over the weekend on the theme “Go Out Into the World in Peace.”  One of the first things I said to the women gathered as we began our retreat together was that I am not an expert in peace.  My life is often as harried and stressful as…

Next weekend I am leading our annual Women’s Retreat on the theme “Go Out Into the World In Peace.”  For weeks I have been pondering, cogitating, germinating and chewing on various aspects of peace.  What exactly do I know about peace or what has my experience been of peace?  What do you know or what have you experienced of peace?  What I…

For two years now I have served as Interim Head of Staff at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland.  When I was interviewing for the position, the Interim Search Committee was telling me there is a wide diversity of theology among those in the congregation.  My response was to smile politely and nod my head in understanding because, after all, I was somewhat…

Yesterday in church I preached my first sermon in 21 years on Original Sin.  The DOCTRINE of Original Sin.  I know, what possessed me?  Most of my colleagues were preaching about children and Jesus and I was obsessing about Original Sin.  What possessed me was that a woman asked me and some others from my congregation this question: “You’re not a church…

When I was in college (a liberal arts Christian college, mind you) and then in seminary, it often seemed as if my entire faith was a bit like a house of cards.  As this professor or that professor would challenge the ideas and beliefs that I had innocently made my own because someone had taught them to me, there were times when…

Yesterday in the sermon I preached I told the congregation that I believe the church is in the language business.  We are learning and teaching and striving to live a language of faith.  The reason the church is in the language business is that living a life of faith is not something that comes naturally to us.  The language of faith is…

One of my pastor friends has been at the same church for almost 20 years.  When he arrived at the church it was experiencing a slow decline.  You would never know when you walk through the doors today!  The church is alive with people of all ages, including the “missing generations” in most churches comprised of those in their 20’s and 30’s. …