After more than forty years of experience (including twenty years in parish ministry), I knew the Easter morning rhythm: sunrise service outside (usually with a modest crowd) followed by sanctuary services inside (usually with overflow crowds). These celebratory services of worship proclaimed the good news of emptiness (in the form of an empty tomb) and the joy of resurrection and new life. A New Emptiness This Easter most of the United States and much of the world is marked Read More …
A Moral Message for the United States (#1861)
Yesterday, 53 years to the day after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the historic "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence" address at Riverside Church (NYC) and 52 years to the day after he was assassinated, the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II delivered a moral message for the nation titled "We Can't Be Silent Any More: Knowing the Symptoms of a Nation Approaching Spiritual Death." Dr. King named racism, poverty, and militarism as three evils placing the Read More …
Great New Books – April 2020 (#1860)
Over the last 30 days, I read several new books. The top ten (all published in the last twelve months) are (5.0) The Velvet Rope Economy: How Inequality Became Big Business by Nelson D. Schwartz (Doubleday, 2020) (4.5) Broken Faith: Inside the World of Faith Fellowship, One of America's Most Dangerous Cults by Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr (Hanover Square Press, 2020) (4.5) Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before they Happen by Dan Heath (Avid Reader Press, 2020) (4.0) When my Time Read More …
Life in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic (#1859)
This is a blog about matters of faith that matter. I used my two most recent posts for introductory content relative to how worship and ministry are changing as a result of COVID-19: Worship in the Time of the COVID-19 PandemicMinistry in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic Personal Experience I now realize that COVID-19 is changing everything. Work: Amidst record unemployment filings, my wife and I remain employed. Her job has transitioned from being 100% on site to being 100% Read More …
Ministry in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic (#1858)
Over the last 10 days, COVID-19 has increasingly impacted all areas of life for many Americans. A week ago today I wrote "Worship in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic" to share my experience of virtual worship on the first Sunday most congregations transitioned from worshiping on their campuses in sanctuaries and other sacred spaces to providing virtual worship. Today, I'm reflecting on just how quickly ministry has changed, is changing, and likely will continue to change as efforts to Read More …
Worship In the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic (#1857)
I am one of more than 16,000 members of a Facebook group called Things They Didn't Teach Us in Seminary. While I had an excellent seminary experience, I did not learn about every possible ministry experience. And, I certainly wasn't required to take a course or even complete a project about ministry during a pandemic. Just a few weeks ago, no one imagined schools closing for multiple weeks and no one used the terms "social distancing" or "COVID-19" in everyday Read More …
Presbyterian Decline: PCUSA -The First 35 Years (#1856)
The Presbyterian Church (USA) was created by a merger of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church in the United States in June 1983. The newly formed denomination started with a membership of 3,131,228. Membership Decline The denomination has experienced year-over-year membership decline every year since it began. Over the last three decades, the rate of decline has increased: 1988-1998 – 11.9%1998-2008 – 17.3%2008-2018 Read More …
Great New Books – March 2020 (#1855)
During the last month, I read ten great new books (published in 2019 or 2020): (5.0) Saving God from Religion: A Minister's Search for Faith in a Skeptical Age by Robin R. Meyers (Convergent Books, 2020)(4.5) Materiality as Resistance: Five Elements for Moral Action in the Real World by Walter Brueggemann (Westminster John Knox Press , 2020)(4.5) Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Ejiris Dixon Read More …
Dear HSU Trustees (#1854)
Dear Hardin-Simmons University Trustees, The more I learn, the more disappointed I am in your decision to close Logsdon Seminary. Rather than writing a detailed critique of the process utilized to reach the decision, the timing and content of the initial communications to share the decision with key stakeholders and the general public, or the ongoing communications and conversations that have transpired since the decision was made public, I'll focus on why Logsdon mattered to me. I am Read More …
UCC Decline Enters 7th Decade (#1853)
Sixteen months ago I wrote a post titled "6 Decades of Decline in the United Church of Christ," which presented a detailed analysis of the decline in number of congregations and number of members from the time the denomination was formed in 1957 through 2017. (I was surprised to learn this was my second most popular post of the 2010s since I published over 1,800 posts during the decade). In recent days, I learned that the first year of the denomination's 7th decade resulted in continued Read More …