Church Matters

  • Confessions of an accidental feminist

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    Go read Rachel Held Evans’ Confessions of an accidental feminist. Very good stuff. I always laugh a little to myself when I receive a Google Alert informing me that someone on the internet has criticized me as a “bitter, angry woman” intent on destroying the Church with my “radical feminist agenda.” I laugh because if these…

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  • Church: Club, Community, or Neither?

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    Awhile back I wrote about how much I hate announcement time.  Go back and take a look at it, because I feel justified in saying that.  Announcement time, as I’ve experienced it in the several congregations I’ve served has, for the most part, been a horrible train wreck.  This is mostly the case because it is…

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  • Just Cut the Church Programs

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    For several weeks I’ve been writing about engaging different groups in church.  Then I wrote about dealing with time constraints and what it means for planning.  Now, I am making a personal appeal for an entirely different approach: it is time to get rid of our programs. As Phyllis Tickle adeptly outlines in The Great…

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  • Using My Time’s Gonna Cost Ya’!

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    Yesterday I wrote that when we claim we don’t have enough time for church, it is really code for “I don’t want to”. Today I’ll say that living in the U.S. right now is like living in a time-sucking vortex of anxiety and despair.  Or maybe that’s just what it feels like when I get 30 minutes…

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  • Not Enough Time

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    In church, we make the excuse that we don’t have enough time, but what we really mean is, “I don’t want to.” I don’t want to volunteer or I don’t want to miss my son’s soccer game or I don’t want to put one more thing on my plate. I don’t want to contribute. I…

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  • Calling All Writers and Artists

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    I’m launching a newsletter soon and am eager to get all of my friends involved.  If you would like to write, draw, paint, illustrate, cartoon about faith church practice the lectionary worship tricks and more then email me at [email protected].  More details will follow shortly.

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  • Why I Hate Announcement Time

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    My least favorite part of any worship service is the announcement time.  There are so many things wrong with it and there are so few ways to actually fix it.  I’m starting to think we should do away with the whole enterprise. Many Episcopal churches place the announcements in the middle of the service.  Honestly,…

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  • The Two Politics

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    In the United States we have two politics. Competitive Politics The first, I’ll call “Competitive Politics,” is the two-party system of pugilism, evidenced by our incessant competitive metaphors.  We talk about horse races, boxing matches, and football.  So outdated is this vision of politics, that we even use war metaphors as evidence of only two…

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