"Trumpian" or Christian?
It has been announced: The Donald isn’t going to show up for the January 28 Republican debate because he doesn’t like Megyn Kelly and her, “I’m going to keep you accountable for your sexist remarks”...
View ArticleStanding Up to Oppression: Will We Pay the Cost?
A man sits in a house of worship, struggling with despair, staring at his useless hand. He couldn’t harness an ox, hold a plow, slaughter an animal, or build a shelter. Total ruin for his family...
View ArticleThe Crucial Difference Between Schism and Division: Lessons from the Garden
The question appears again and again in church life and right now particularly with mainline denominations: should we just give up and split up? There is a way to divide and still thrive. Let’s pay...
View ArticleThe Promiscuity of Nature Versus the Pristine Swimming Pool
I’m lucky enough to live in a house that has a pool in the backyard. In Texas, this pool serves ever so many advantages. The hot tub provides relaxation on cooler winter nights, the rest of the pool a...
View ArticleOur Interconnected and Tragically Divided World
The Interconnection On Sunday, two cousins, Gene (we’ll call him Gene One) and Gene (Gene Two), who also share the same distinctive last name and who had not seen each other in over fifty years, met...
View ArticleAn Ancient Base, A Modern Overlay, the Christian Challenge, and General...
Shortly (actually not so shortly as my flight has just been delayed) I leave for Portland, Oregon to observe and write about the General Conference of The United Methodist Church. As always, it...
View ArticleGeneral Conference Day One: A Beautiful Morning for a Gay Ordination
OK, Portland is gorgeous. Lovely flowering bushes sweetly frame the craftsman-style bungalow, an Airbnb rental where I’m staying with the United Methodist Reporter team. Delicious coolness kissed the...
View ArticleGeneral Conference, Day One, Late Afternoon
I’m tired. I admit it. And this is just the first day, and a half day at that. I’ve been observing/writing since early morning. I just finished writing up the first worship service with its clarion...
View Article24 Hours into General Conference: Sinking in the Graveyard of Procedural Stuff
The Rev. Don Underwood, at his sixth General Conference as delegate and his ninth overall, stated in a morning briefing with the North Texas Conference delegates, “We are sinking further and further...
View ArticleGeneral Conference Day Two: And Are We Yet Caffeined Up?
I didn’t get around to eating today. We left the house early and our live-in cook for the team, Charles Harrison, who also functions as the chauffeur and two dozen other absolutely necessary things,...
View ArticleNo I/Thou, Only We/They at General Conference
It is official: we will not speak with each other at General Conference. We will only speak at each other. And we will do so in three-minute increments, limited to only three arguments for and three...
View ArticleGeneral Conference, Day Four: in worship love, in practice ???
My back, arms, butt all ache. Too much sitting, too much typing, too much tension. My heart aches. Too much anguish. Wonderful morning worship–read all about it here. We heard loud and clear: If we...
View ArticleFatigue, Fights, Questionable Biblical Interpretation: A week into General...
I’ve backed away from blogging a bit. Too many emotions hitting, not able to sort it out, too many articles I need to write, too much utter fatigue. But oh so many thoughts!!! So, time to leap in....
View ArticleSlogging through General Conference on our way to implosion
First: you want to know why the UMC is so stuck? Read this piece I wrote for the United Methodist Reporter. We’re a muddy administrative impossibility. As for me, it is Tuesday, late afternoon. Still...
View ArticleTense Atmosphere, Worried Delegates, Blocked Legislation: General Conference
Wednesday morning. Our reporting team is sleeping poorly. Most of us wondering why we signed up for this gig. We came as volunteers. We all love the church. We’re full of opinions about what is...
View ArticleAll hell breaking loose at General Conference
[Note: Keep checking the United Methodist Reporter site for latest news] This morning, after a plea from the highly respected Rev. Adam Hamilton that the Bishops of the UMC do their job and offer some...
View ArticleA Moment of Fun and Silliness at General Conference
We on the UMR team are all tired. We can cry, get snarky or irritated with each other, go off and sulk, or . . .well, let us say that we chose laughter. Don’t miss it. And folks, please have a sense of...
View ArticleTheological Education and the Spread of the Gospel: Antithetical?
This morning at General Conference, we saw a heated debate about providing much, much more money for theological education in Africa. The statement kept coming up about how fast the church is growing...
View ArticleAsk the Thoughtful Pastor: Did the UMC really elect a lesbian Bishop? A...
Dear Thoughtful Pastor: My question: I have been an active member of the United Methodist church for years. I know that the discipline is supposedly BIBLICALLY BASED but the recent appointment in...
View ArticleThe year everything broke
All of us live in the tensions between creation and re-creation. Nothing is stasis or particularly stable or immune from breaking. Last night, the dishwasher broke. (The repair service showed up...
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