Category: What happens at church
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Loveliness
An early-morning drive in the spring sunshine. Noticing the first emerging blooms of Bradford pear and flowering quince. Mist still hovering in the woods, about to scatter. A wide drive, a welcome sign, the murmur of voices in a room down the corridor. Freshly-painted walls in the sanctuary. Fresh flowers on the table, bright in […]
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Worship
Because heaven and earth belong to God, we may worship in any place. Directory for Worship, W-1.0203 The room at the end of the hall in the community center is as awesome a place as any. Whenever and wherever we gather in Jesus’ name, we join the praise and prayer of the people of God […]
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Last Good Days
I noticed on Saturday that it was the anniversary, liturgical yearly speaking, of our last Cajun Dinner. It was traditional for us to hold it on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. That’s if “traditional” can be something we’ve been doing for under twenty years. Not everyone would say that, but I would. It was a […]
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Insight
Because I live with “a doctor in the family,” I have been on one side of a lot of medical conversations with family and friends of family over the years. Recently, there was a long conversation that went something like this: “It’s a serious disease.” “You don’t feel bad, because you’re used to living with […]
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Affirmation
Can we be “on a level” with everyone else, and also be “special”? Important in a way that matters, to other people, and to us? People get really exercised over that question, and confused, in my experience. We’ve all heard those grumpy complaints about how “now EVERYONE has to be ‘special’” in schools on awards […]
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Inarticulate Emotions
Weather interfered with our plans – to bid a fond farewell to a couple of valued, treasured members. People are delighted for them to have found a new place closer to children and grandchildren, and better situated for their needs. And people are simultaneously dismayed at everything this will mean for us, absent them, going […]
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Democracy, and Innovation
The Presbyterians love deliberative bodies. This was brought home to me once again yesterday, because it was annual congregational meeting day, and also because I have been reading The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, in which one of the central concerns is why we think the unfreedom of various authoritarian arrangements is […]
Matters of Interpretation 