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What a talk about pensions taught me about making change
A room full of clergy learning about changes to their pension fund is the last place I’d look for inspiration. And it’s a pretty safe guess you wouldn’t look there, either. But a funny thing happened. You don’t need to know anything more about the situation than that. It’s the sort of place which suffocates…
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A Postscript on Starting to Deconstruct Church
My favorite part of exploring ideas is seeing how ideas affect other people. The other day I shared an article suggesting that instead of tinkering with Daylight Savings Time or opting out of it, what if we adopted it all year round? It is not as novel a concept as one would think and has far…
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This is the shift
We are shifting toward enlightenment. Not The Enlightenment, for we are leaving much of that behind. But a certain enlightened view of the world that is more than logic and rational, ideological and fearful, more than cynical and compassionate. We’re moving toward being real and being forgiving. I know this sounds pie in the sky…
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The Next Big Thing for Christianity
Prophets The prophets of the Old Testament were gifted at knowing what was about to happen. But not so gifted at predicting the future. The difference between the two is simple to parse. Given the environment and knowledge of the world, culture, and the divine dream, they did an astounding job of knowing what would…
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Emergence Is Not a Fad
Using Words We have a communication problem in the church. About change, tradition, our existing culture. We struggle to understand each other when we talk about our liturgy and our patterns of worship and our expectations of leadership. We argue that we want our church to have a more engaged role in the community, but…
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How to Make a New Year’s Resolution Stick
Yesterday, I wrote a bummer of a piece telling you that you would most certainly fail. That great New Year’s resolution to lose weight or not eat chocolate? Sorry. You’ve already failed, you just might not know it yet. And that resolution to read everyday, that’s hanging by a thread. That was yesterday. Today I’m…
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Why Your New Year’s Resolution Is Bound to Fail
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? If you are like the millions who do, you no doubt find that they are always harder than they seem. Looking back at the last few years, many of us recognize a pretty poor track record. Even the words “New Year’s resolution” conjures thoughts of failure and personal experiences…