Christianity
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Fixing What We Got Wrong
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2 min read
My mentor during seminary, The Rev. Darren Elin once remarked that we get our two biggest holidays backwards: we celebrate Christmas the night before and Easter the morning after when it should be the other way around. Boy was he right. This is my first Christmas in 5 years in which I wasn’t one of…
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Church: Club, Community, or Neither?
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3 min read
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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Giving Thanks When the Holiday Doesn’t Deserve Them
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3 min read
I kind of hate Thanksgiving. I do love my family, the festivities, watching the Detroit Lions, the parade. I especially love the food. Oh, I love the food. For the longest time, my favorite food in the whole world was stuffing. It still comes close. No, the reason I hate Thanksgiving is the holiday’s origin.…
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Just Cut the Church Programs
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5 min read
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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Why I Hate Announcement Time
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5 min read
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 Bridegroom’s a Jerk; I Sure Hope God Isn’t
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1 min read
In this parable, (Matthew 25:1-13) with bridesmaids, waiting for the bridegroom, the easy reading is wrong. It doesn’t work. If we see this as being about…The Second Coming or Heaven after death or the perfect example of Christian community… Then God is an idiot. See, the easy reading makes us think two things: We need to prepare for…