Reflections on Monthly Worship Themes

When I put my application for seminary in the mail box, I felt like I was asking for an answer about the purpose of my life.

 

My due date was February 14. I’m pretty sure I was three days late for my birthday because I refused to be born on THAT particular day. I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day.

 

My former church member was genuinely concerned. She was concerned about the safety of the church, and my safety too, I think. What really surprised me about her request was that she was Jewish. She of all people, I thought, would understand why it was so important that I speak publicly on behalf of the oppressed.

 

Two questions. How you answer may have serious consequences.
   A. “In unclear times, I usually expect the best.”
   B. “If something can go wrong for me, it will.”

 

Hope for me is sometimes about some external event, such as no red lights all the way home. But, I’m know I’m a better person when I hope that I can be a source of change. Maybe, I’ll have more patience at each red light, all the way home. Sometimes the best hope is found within.

 

Fearing the future and regretting the past are two favorite pastimes in many of our lives. Unfortunately, they are a barrier to being present for the present, and block any hope of gratitude for the past, present or future. "Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear but around in awareness," said James Thurber.

 

I still remember when I hurt the same church member in my previous congregation twice. Twice! The same member! And she was the matriarch of the church—a long-time member, deeply committed, to everything the church stood for.

 

Two weeks ago I reflected upon the act of apologizing and the holiness that transpires when two people meet in grace. What I didn’t say was how I found out that I had hurt my former church member. That’s a whole different part of the puzzle of forgiveness. It seems obvious that the party that did the hurting has to know they hurt someone, yet we struggle as Jacob did with God in Genesis 32:23.

 

Recently, a member of our church relayed to me a brief comment made by a visitor during a worship service held during the past summer. The worship leader referenced our Mt. Vernon "community," and the visitor responded to the member "What community?" ...

 

I look at the group photo of 20 or so foreign study students with nostalgia. We’re all smiling, but looking closer you can see the nervousness in bodies and faces. It was the beginning of a year of study in Durham, England. By the end of the year we had bonded, friends all the way around. ...