I’m up early drinking coffee and getting my message ready to teach at our church. I’m teaching from Psalm 142. As Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.” That touches on the theme this morning. Here’s a painting I did recently, which is available in my…

One of my mottos, (I believe I invented it?), is “authenticity with accountability”. This is something that I try to practice in my life, and especially in how I pastor a church. I love authenticity in people, and I believe my most intense passion is to see people set free…

One of the pitfalls of ministry, even life in general, is worrying about what other people think. Especially worrying about what other people think of you… the pastor, priest, minister, rabbi, or person that you are! I know several people oppressed by the expectations of others. I am sometimes among…

David Richo has a BOOK out: The Five Things We Cannot Change: And The Happiness We Find By Embracing Them (Shambala, 2005). He claims that there are certain facts of life that we cannot change, unavoidable “givens”. They are: 1) Everything changes and ends, 2) Things do not always go…

I am a pastor of a church, but I struggle with it. Man, do I struggle with it! When I think about the mechanics of running an organization, the delicacies of maintaining tenuous relationships, the banality of nurturing a bureaucracy, or the boredom of keeping an institution going, I just…

“Do not claim to be wiser than you are” (Romans 12: 16) is often used as an excuse for our stupidity. It is often used as a preventative for study, research, inquiry and intensive seeking for truth. In fact, we often exalt stupidity. When someone shouts louder with more confidence…

Kari, Anne, and the rest, I so appreciate your questions and comments. Here’s a brief but serious response: “I found only a question mark where the old conviction should have been” (Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase. My Climb Out of Darkness, p. xix). Spiritual growth is often painful, challenging, and…

Lisa (my wife) and I were given a coupon for a motel room in a neighboring city for last night. We took the offer, and went away for 24 hours and had a wonderful time. We were either in bed or in Chapters. My two favorite places! So, needless to…

The other day, Marilyn commented on an article she read. She gave me a copy. In it, Margaret Wheatley states in her interview: “A highly skilled leader has to engage in the questions of meaning, ethics, uncertainty, fear. Really good leaders are willing to step into a relationship with people…

I need to tell you something. Someone recently asked how I can feel so connected to atheists, agnostic, backsliders, sinners, Jews, Buddhists, and so on. It’s because at the root of my theology, my thoughts about God and life, is the belief that, somehow, Jesus is the center of all…