church
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Talking to God when you have a cold
Over the centuries, people have found God in the most troubling of times, and stories of martyrs and saints can give us great strength to get through our own lives, but goodness gracious is it hard to pray with a… Continue reading
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Do nothing for a while
Today I met with another priest in my diocese to discuss our literary journal. This will be third issue of Wonder in All, which you can find by clicking here (our summer 2025 issue is forthcoming, but you can find… Continue reading
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The human stories of Scripture
“Foxes have their dens, and birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” How lonely must Jesus have been to have said this. Or should we read it theologically, as… Continue reading
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Adults in Children’s Sunday School
We came to quite the problem when presenting Palm Sunday and Holy Week to our church school children. Our curriculum has readings and a video, but both the children and the teachers found it a little disturbing. Good Friday in… Continue reading
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Teaching Halloween and All Saints
When my daughter asked me “But what IS Halloween”, I realized that I had two choices. I could focus on the purely secular holiday, or I could focus on the religious aspect. I could do both, of course, but my… Continue reading
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Talking to a nine-year old (Part 2)
Two weeks ago, I posted about a little interview I did with my nine-year old daughter. I asked her questions about God, about following Jesus, and about what it’s like for her to be in church and in worship. Here… Continue reading
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What do you pass down?
My parish is currently in the process of hiring a new Children’s Education Director. Hiring someone isn’t simply about just finding the right person for the job. It’s also about refining what the job actually entails. In part, this work… Continue reading
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How do you write your sermons?
Every now and again, someone asks me about my process for writing sermons. This question usually gets me pretty excited. I studied the creative process in graduate school and seminary, I like thinking about the theology of creativity, and like most… Continue reading
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Red-tinted conifers and the darkness of God
When I was in high school, I hated going to church. It’s not that I wasn’t Christian, though I have to say that it wasn’t until college of when teaching abroad that I really gave honest, mature thought to the… Continue reading
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Remembering Ordination
This past Monday was the 6th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. The date of December 11th, 2017 doesn’t sound all that long ago until I think about how old I was and how old my children were: I… Continue reading
Incense and Crayons 