We need darkness as much as we need light
A pastor I was counseling asked, “Am I going crazy? The last 14 months have felt like one long day. I’ve been uptight, mad and worried. Our church has lost so much in the last […]
The choices of each day
Every time I reflect on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, I am struck with how Jesus brings it to a conclusion, laying these choices before me: There is a wide gate in […]
The obituaries that never get written
“It is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27 —– Nearly every day in the Arizona Republic (Arizona’s flagship newspaper), there appear between 4-6 obituaries with names of people […]
Ash Wednesday in the desert
Just after 6am this morning I pulled onto Thompson Peak Parkway in Scottsdale, Arizona, and headed to St. Patrick Community Church, one of 40 Catholic parishes in the diocese of Phoenix. Standing in the dark, […]
Finishing well is not as easy as it sounds
“How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives” … Annie Dillard —– A few days after my dad turned 64 my mom called me from the bank where she worked. […]
Shoot ’em up in the wild west
In the summer of 2017, my Pastor-to-Pastor Initiatives board gave me an 11-week sabbatical. Jennifer and I came to Phoenix that summer, where I studied spiritual formation at Phoenix Seminary with Dr. Ted Wueste. I […]
Today is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul … And there is only one reason to boast!
Today, January 25, is the Feast of the conversion of St Paul the Apostle. Among the churches celebrating this day are the Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches. I have tried to imagine the Apostle Paul […]
We can’t start with reconciliation … we just need to get better at talking
In recent months, people have asked me many times, and I have asked myself, “Given these last four years, and the deep divisions between people, and between people in the same church — especially in […]
