Ministry in the Middle

This summer, the elders in my congregation and I have exchanged a specific piece of the worship service that we lead.  Since before I began serving as senior minister in this congregation, the pastor has been responsible for providing a short meditation before Communion each week.  This summer, each of them has had the opportunity to offer this meditation/invitation to the Lord's Table.  In exchange, I provided an offering meditation and prayer for the gifts offered -- typically something that the elders have led. In our denominational tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Communion is the centerpiece of worship.  In key ways, it represents the heart of our shared theology of Christ's presence in our midst, of radical grace and acceptance, of the teaching of the New Testament about the centrality of the Lord's Supper and Baptism.  Personally, I love the chance to reflect on part of what it means for us to gather and share Communion in the name...

Last week, the Pennsylvania attorney general released a grand jury report detailing credible accusations implicating more than 300 Roman Catholic priests in sexually abusing more than 1000 children since the 1940s.  As in other parts of the church, bishops and other church leaders protected the priests, downplaying and ignoring accusations of abuse and misconduct. This news provides more opportunities for outrage about people who should have accepted responsibility and done things differently.  Priests, those entrusted with sharing and teaching about the love of God and Jesus, perverting that message into a weapon for pursuing their own selfish desires through abuse and rape.  Church leaders, who were entrusted with holding priests to account for their behavior, but who instead protected their friends and colleagues behind a wall of silence and a tendency to simply move accused priests to other parishes.  Police and prosecutors who felt powerless to question the a...

"Come as you are.  The Lord welcomes us just as we are." Almost every time that I offer a meditation or invitation before Communion, I end with these words.  In part, I feel they reflect the radical grace of Jesus, which is celebrated in the Lord's Supper, even though we do not entirely grasp the full meaning of this radical grace and love.  In part, I hope that we as church can slowly grow to live out the promise of such a radical grace. I thought about this invitation again as I read a recent article about "Crying in Worship" in The Christian Century .  The author, Heidi Haverkamp, is an Episcopal priest who I met when we overlapped as students at the University of Chicago Divinity School.  In the essay, she admitted that she had often told others that it was okay to cry in church, but she had a different appreciation when she attended a worship service and cried. Now, those who have been around me when I lead worship services know that I don't need ...

N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography  (HarperOne, 2018) , 480 pages Noted scholar N. T. Wright attempts to present a unified portrait of the apostle Paul in this new biography.  Drawing heavily on the New Testament letters of Paul and book of Acts, Wright argues that Paul was passionate and consistent in his life-long faith in God.  Further, he argues that Paul's missionary teaching forms the backbone of all subsequent theology. Wright's central thesis is that Paul had a consistent overall theology throughout his life, from before his famous encounter on the road to Damascus until his death.  Repeatedly, he suggests that Paul's "conversion" did not offer any new insight into God except that the promised Messiah had come and was Jesus of Nazareth. The great benefit of this approach is that it strives to see unity in Paul's theology, linking his rabbinical education to his subsequent thought.  One could argue that Paul himself alludes to this unity in his lette...

At this time a year ago, I was beginning a three month sabbatical.  It was a wonderful and disorienting experience. We had a wonderful celebration in worship, which included a special commissioning and blessing for the sabbatical time and a welcome for an interim sabbatical minister.  There was a nice reception after worship.  I came home.  I sent a few last minute emails based on conversations from that morning to people in the congregation and uploaded and posted the recording of my sermon.  When these things were done, I adjusted the settings on my calendar to not automatically include the church calendar and I turned off the notifications on my phone for my church email account. Then I didn't quite know what to do.  For years, my life has followed the rhythms of the church calendar.  Each week and month, certain things happen and need to be accomplished.  Even while resting on my sabbath days and during vacations, deep down I have known wh...

This week, I preach the final sermon of my annual "Summer Blockbuster Sermon Series."  It explored some of the theological issues raised by the latest film in the "Jurassic Park/Jurassic World" franchise. Eight summer ago, it was a lark.  In my first year of weekly preaching, I prepared an ambitious sermon series on the Jewish monarchy, which I believe stretched from June into October.  It was too much -- too many kings, too long to focus on them, week after week, and too serious for the summer months. So I tried to imagine a sermon series that was not as serious.  Given that many people take vacation trips during the summer, it also needed to be a collection of sermons that were more self-contained each week, so that people wouldn't miss part of the overarching series theme if they were away for a week or two.  Exploring religious themes in popular movies seemed like a good Summer theme.  It also was a "win-win" for me because I could go watch m...

11 years ago, this afternoon, I was ordained as a Christian minister. In some ways, I knew what I was getting into that day, I suppose.  In others, I didn't really have a clue.  I expected that I would be called to serve as pastor of a congregation, where I would be responsible for preaching, leading worship services, participating in other church activities, and more.  I figured that I would attend a lot of meetings. I didn't know where I would serve, but I wasn't concerned.  I was unmarried and free to move anywhere in the country.  I was confident that I would find a good place.  Six months later, I was making plans to relocate to West Virginia, my home for the next four years. I felt reasonably prepared for solo ministry and I was excited for the opportunity.  I had a solid training and had spent three years serving as both an elder and part-time youth minister.  My ministry had been nurtured and appreciated in that congregation....