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January 2025

January 05, 2025

Epiphany: Grace Beyond Borders and Traditions

(This post is from my sermon for January 5th based on Ephesians 3:1-12) Epiphany is...

May 2024

May 02, 2024

All Heaven Broke Loose

Yesterday, all heaven broke loose. Five years ago, it was all hell. The people who...

March 2024

March 26, 2024

God, Country, And The Great UMC Fracture

I was glad the theater seat was comfortable. The documentary I watched was not. God...

November 2023

November 04, 2023

The (Self) Righteous Victim

We are empathetic toward a victim of violence, persecution, or exclusion. This is a general...

October 2023

October 04, 2023

Reaffiliation? Not So Fast

First, let me say I am not slamming the door on future reaffiliation. The people...

May 2023

May 08, 2023

Heartbreaking Addiction

A friend died from a heartbreaking addiction. I mean that literally. When I first heard...

April 2023

April 24, 2023

Ultimately, It Was Love

My Annual Conference saw 264 congregations leave last Saturday. Love let them go. It was...

April 17, 2023

Communing With Judas

It is a common holy week theme. Can you sit with your Judas? Do we...

March 2023

March 27, 2023

Seminaries Are Not The Problem

Seminaries get blame for not training clergy appropriately. The blame comes from a certain segment...

March 09, 2023

White Male Flattery

Flattery will sometimes get you closer to your goal. How many times has a new...

January 2023

January 23, 2023

A High View of Scripture?

The worst propaganda fundamentalists use is to claim "a high view of Scripture." In a...

January 06, 2023

Christian Nationalism Is Not Christian

Two years ago, I started to write my outrage and feelings about white nationalism and...

October 2022

October 31, 2022

Time To Commit To Nonviolence

I am a violent person who believes nonviolence is necessary. I do not claim to...

October 20, 2022

Inclusiveness And Repentance

Did Jesus practice inclusiveness? Not too long ago, I saw a meme claiming Jesus ate...

October 11, 2022

Forgive Us Our Debts

Comparing sins to debts in Christian teaching and preaching is not as common as it...

September 2022

September 29, 2022

The Dying Church?

The church is dying! My life in professional ministry began in 1990. People said, "the...

June 2022

June 02, 2022

Pentecost And Discipleship

Easter season ends with Pentecost. Often it is lost in the shuffle in church worship...

May 2022

May 17, 2022

4 Reasons I Am Staying UMC

I am staying with The United Methodist Church. There are good reasons to remain. The...

May 10, 2022

Forward United

Forward United is a gathering of traditionalist, centrist, and progressive United Methodists in my Annual...

May 03, 2022

Divorce: Church Style

Experience teaches me that nothing stops a person who wants a divorce. Begging a person...

April 2022

April 21, 2022

Virtue and Experience

Experience is a great teacher. This quality has come under scrutiny among many conservative Wesleyans....

March 2022

March 10, 2022

The Revolution Begins May 1st

Forgive me for approaching what many take as serious business lightly. What some people believe...

February 2022

February 28, 2022

Hell Is A Gated Community

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my...

February 07, 2022

Holy Disobedience Or Holy Initiative

Protestants do not have a clear idea of holy obedience. We leave that submission to...

January 2022

January 10, 2022

Forgiveness And The Future Schism (Part 3)

This final installment in this series will sound harsh to some. But forgiveness is not...

January 06, 2022

Forgiveness and the Future Schism (Part 2)

Ego and the desire for power afflict many people. A new issue enters our discussion...

January 03, 2022

Forgiveness and The Future Schism (Part 1)

The passing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminded me of his important truth. "There is no...

December 2021

December 02, 2021

Boy Scouts of America Loses A Friend

The whole Boy Scouts bankruptcy reminds me of why I did not become a lawyer....

November 2021

November 15, 2021

Heresy, Insanity, and The Destruction of the Faith of Jesus

Heresy is not often the equivalent of insanity. We who grew up during the cold...

October 2021

October 14, 2021

Mission Without Meditation

We all agreed what we needed in our Annual Conference is a renewed sense of...