I just placed the metal bowl in the Sanctuary for tonight’s worship service. It’s the bowl that will eventually hold the 30 pieces of silver from each person who gathers tonight. It’s an action we’ll share as we remember what… Continue reading

If I could have any superpower in the world, I would want the superpower of having the right words to say in the right moment. It’s the superpower that I have always wanted — and will never have. Because we… Continue reading

A few hours ago, I sent out an email about this coming Sunday’s First Fifth Sunday Potluck at church. Then, I went ahead and tried to update some of the materials on the website — including sharing a bunch of… Continue reading

How do you talk about resurrection? That’s what the conversation turned to in our worship planning group for Lent. But, it wasn’t just how you talk about it — because our conversation explored how you experience it. After reading this… Continue reading

Me and the man I love I preached this wonderful story about wilderness four years ago and I’m still working on the same sermon from that many years ago. I preached on it again yesterday. And, lo and behold, it’s the same sermon. Almost.… Continue reading

There are a lot of practices that one can explore during Lent. This year, I plan on writing more. I’m not going to be quite so insane to think that I’ll write every day — but instead that I’ll find… Continue reading

This is the Rev. Maurice L. Haehlen. He was the pastor of the church I serve from 1962 until 1970 and there isn’t a week that goes by that I am not compared to him. You see, Maurice was quite… Continue reading

Some times I feel discouraged,And think my work’s in vain,But then the Holy SpiritRevives my soul again. Though we sang this refrain in both the early and the late worship service yesterday, it wasn’t until the second service where the… Continue reading

I couldn’t think of anything to say but I sat there. I sat there by her bedside and I held her hand. I whispered prayers for her — praying for light and assurance and for peace. I thought that she… Continue reading

They think they own you. That’s what she said at the end of our visit. She wanted me to know that she understood the weirdness of the work that pastors do. She is, after all, a preacher’s kid. She’s lived… Continue reading