I was going to preach on Abraham’s compassion and hospitality that he showed to the three visitors from God. But as I read this passage over and over again, I couldn’t help but come back to the miraculous ways in which God works in our world and in our lives. For the past couple of … [Read more…]
In 2007 I did Field Education in a church in Braintree MA. It was a large old stone building with beautiful stained glass windows in the sanctuary. Each window depicted a different scene from the bible. The church was beautiful though did not make me think of a traditional New England Congregational Church when I … [Read more…]
Now there may not be too many of us who have experienced adult baptism, or can even say that they remember their baptisms. My first baptism happened when I was 5 months old and recovering from chicken pox. I have no memory of my first baptism. My second baptism was done by the same clergy … [Read more…]
When I was in my undergraduate program at Eastern Connecticut State University, I took a class called the Philosophy of Religion taught by an ex-Jesuit priest. There was a small group of us in the class, maybe 10 to 15 students. Now learning philosophy only really works if you know which questions to ask in … [Read more…]
When I worked as a preschool teacher, we were all required to do a certain amount of hours of continuing education every single year. One of the trainings we often had, focused on teaching us the importance and practice of good listening. Then we would split into groups and practice the art of listening. Most … [Read more…]
I listened to a whole podcast on Monday all about the history of Veteran’s Day and its link to Armistice Day which preceded it. In the podcast, it spoke about the need to do more than to just honor our veterans once a year and how for many veterans they would much prefer that we … [Read more…]
This week we look at the idea of devotional time. For many people devotional time congers up very specific practices like daily prayer time or those little books I have out for people at the holiday times. But devotional time is not that specific. It is anything that we do that shows our commitment to … [Read more…]
In graduate school, many years ago now, I was home visiting my parents. I loved running out by my parent’s house. It is so rural out there and just so beautiful and peaceful. Running was where I could lose the world around me, listen to some music, and talk to God. Having not grown up … [Read more…]
You ever look around at the world or go through times in life when you wonder to yourself “What in the world are you doing God”? I think we all have wondered this several times in our lives. When I was a young child, this was a question that I came face to face with. … [Read more…]
One of the hardest things about maintaining faith in God is the seemingly unanswered prayers. We all have what seems like unanswered prayers. And it only gets harder as those unanswered prayers seem to come when we are praying for dire things. When I was young, I was bullied quite a bit in school. I … [Read more…]
