Here it is, the perfect background music for Christmas-sermon composing. The King’s College, Cambridge Festival of Lessons and Carols is on WFMT radio. King’s does the orginal lessons and carols service. And no one does it better. Someday, I want to wait in line for hours and actually be there. I am an enourmous fan [...]
I’ll admit it. The Sunday night sermon has suffered for the past week at the expense of other things. Tomorrow morning, the sermon gets done, whether the Spirit is moving vigorously or not. The problem is the other things have been good things. Here’s a list: Wednesday was completely dedicated to excavating my cubicle at [...]
For just over a year, I’ve been engaged in a process I fondly refer to as “Presbyquest.” I was ordained as a minister in the Christian Reformed Church two years ago, but I was finding it difficult to find a position in parish ministry, and to find any position where I could remain within a [...]
A week and a half ago, I received word that one of my former students died in his sleep. James was a senior this year at the school where I taught religion for two years. My colleagues and friends who are still there sound exhausted. I am sure that the students are devasted. James was [...]
On Sunday morning, I spent six straight hours focused on the Lord’s Supper, though not because I am some kind of spiritual giant who can meditate on the sacrament for an entire morning. At 6:00am, my alarm clock launched into my daily morning dose of National Public Radio. The person who schedules their programing is [...]
One of my responsibilities at work is coordination of my church’s relief efforts for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. For the past few months, this has mainly meant that I attempt to connect donations with people who have been displaced to Chicago. It has been the most rewarding and the most frustrating thing that I do. [...]
The best thing that I saw during a long day of church today? During the one service I sat through as a worshiper (anonymous but for the clerical collar), I was most thankful for the 10 year old girl in the pew in front of me. Through most of the service, she was intently focused [...]
I have been writing this week. For the past year, I’ve been engaged in a pursuit I fondly refer to as “Presbyquest.†Two years ago, I was ordained as a minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. For reasons that I’ll explain in a later post, I’ve been working on switching my credentials [...]
Up until now, my web presence consisted of a few records of my sorry but stubborn times in distance running, a few college and seminary alumni references, brief appearances on sites related to my work, and, most notably, my husband’s web page. But now, my husband has presented me with this website as a birthday [...]