At the beginning of Lent, I shared this graphic with a small group of young parents during a Sunday school class. This chart was based on some very simple math assuming a 7-year-old child attending public school and getting the 10 hours of sleep per night recommended...
Yesterday we had the gift of receiving our confirmands into this congregation’s membership. As we begin this week, I invite us to take a moment, pausing to reflect and give thanks. We give thanks to God for the Spirit’s movement in our youth, for their desire to...
The Wednesday Men’s Bible Study group, along with other members, are sponsoring four men who had helped the U.S. military in Afghanistan. (A fifth has moved to San One recently passed his written driver’s license test! A major need is for an old car. Currently a van...
Every year when I get the joy and privilege of teaching both our 8th-grade students and their parents during the Confirmation experience, I am reminded of my own Confirmation journey. My memories range from the group meetings in our small church library gathered...
There is the wonderful but challenging spiritual practice of silence. The older I get the more I appreciate silence. Especially in a world of constant human noise, from music to our devices binging with a new message, TV, cars, etc. Know what I mean? To find the...
One of the weekly joys of my job is leading preschool chapel with 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds from our Weekday Preschool. They come into the sanctuary full of awe, joy, wiggles, and giggles! On Ash Wednesday, we talked about the beginning of Lent, looked for purple and...
One of my favorite professors at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary recently retired. I never had a chance to have a class with him, but I had the privilege of hearing him preach numerous times. He was also incredibly generous with me when I was the editor of...
Listen. When you hear the word listen what comes to mind? Your parents or teachers or coach saying, listen up. Perhaps in the Old Testament when the prophets would complain that no one would listen to them. Quite often in the New Testament Jesus calls those in a...
We are about to embark on the liturgical season of Lent. Lent marks the 40 days (not counting Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It is a time for reflection and, historically, for the preparation of new disciples for baptism. Often it is associated with...
As we prepare for Neil’s retirement and then Franklin’s, we give thanks for their ministry and presence among us, for God’s work through them. In the midst of the celebrations and then changes that are coming, we are also reminded of the repetition of our liturgical...
