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6 Ways We Made This Easter Special
Every church with whom I’ve ever celebrated has made a lovely to-do about Holy Week and Easter. They all are different, which is part of the joy and excitement for me to celebrate in a new congregation. I am always excited to see how we do things here. This year was my favorite by far. Let me tell…
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Walking Between Two Worlds
a homily for Proper 23CText: Luke 17:11-19 If we were to take out a map to look for Jesus, where He is in the gospel, we’d find He isn’t really that far from where He started. Jesus is heading to Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Directly north of Judea is Samaria. North of that is…
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Learning How To Sing
I remember a specific moment of great happiness from my childhood. It was the day I learned I no longer had to sing at school. I didn’t dread singing until fourth grade. The year I had my first crush, my first acknowledgement that boys and girls really were different, the first realization that what I did…
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The Imperfect Science
God is perfect, but our worship isn’t, despite what we might think. The seemingly fixed nature of our worship belies the truth: worship throughout history has been spontaneous and full of joy. We have gone through eras, particularly the medieval period, in which liturgy (the work of the people) was done in a language unknown to its…
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Church: Club, Community, or Neither?
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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8 Keys to engaging pre-teens in church
I wrote a while ago about engaging children in church. Now I’m tackling that in-between age: the pre-teen. First off, I don’t intend to give a firm age range for this group. I think you know it when you see it. Your 9 year-old might be more teen-like than your 11 year-old. Parents of pre-teens struggle with…