Category: Church
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“How are you doing?”: the many moods of an introverted pastor in an age of coronavirus
Like you, I suspect, many friends and colleagues have recently asked me, “How are you doing,” as we endure this strange season of coronavirus. Of course, I’m asking the same of them. It’s an understandable question. These are strange, unprecedented times, for all of us.
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“It’s the end of the Church as we know it, and I feel fine.”
What is the Church’s role in this crisis? Most Church professionals are trying to figure that out, as best we can, day by day. Seven days ago, the idea of closing the Church for a virus seemed preposterous. Seven days later, we’re planning for the possibility of months of closure. …
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“Compassionate Community” – a sermon prepared for First Church Orlando, for our series, “Christ Centered Community”
“12 Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. 13 We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we…
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“Christ Centered Community” – a sermon preached on March 8, 2020, at the First United Methodist Church of Orlando
4 Now you are coming to him as to a living stone. Even though this stone was rejected by humans, from God’s perspective it is chosen, valuable. 5 You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices…
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The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Hero White and Black America Needed, and Needs.
maybe, white America needed and needs Dr. King as much as black America did and does, to confront our privilege and unconscious racial biases, to challenge our complicit participation in societal injustices, and to awaken us to the great gift of diversity and the myriad contributions of African-Americans to American…
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I’ll be home for Christmas…
If you happen to attend a Christmas Eve service tonight – whether it be your first, or one of many – I hope it makes an impression on you! I hope you’re moved by the beauty of what you see and hear. I hope you’re touched by the pastor’s message. …
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Spiritual Leadership
Somebody needs to be asking, “What is Jesus’ vision for our church? What is Jesus calling us to do and be? How is Jesus calling us to learn and grow? How does Jesus want us to spend these offerings? How does Jesus want us to use these buildings? Who does…
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The Deep Center
Here’s my concern. If the United Methodist Church divides, which seems increasingly likely – and possibly necessary – what happens to the deep center?
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My 2018 Reading List
One of my goals for 2018 was to read fifty books. Unfortunately, I only made it to forty nine! If I try really hard, I might be able to finish number fifty (Ellie Wiesel’s All Rivers Run to the Sea) before the ball drops at midnight. We’ll see. Either way, I’m close…
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