Lord, teach me. . . .

Everybody’s got somebody to lean on. –Traveling Wilburys Recently my life took a tremendous turn in a new direction. Out of the blue, God opened doors (and I had sense enough to walk through them) that led to me leaving the church I had served for over five years as Minister of Pastoral Care, for a new church, in a new denomination, in a new city. I’m now serving as the permanent, settled pastor to a United Church of Christ—and it couldn’t be a better fit. Big change over the course of a year. But the truth is, nothing’s changed at all. And I had that affirmed a couple weeks ago by my new congregation. When the official vote on my being called was complete, someone gave me the greatest compliment ever. The vote feels like just a formality , he said. You’ve felt like my pastor from the very first day you arrived [ten months ago]. And I felt the same way. We can dicker and argue over stuff that doesn’t matter, like denominations and job titles. At the end of t...

No one really has a bad life. Not even a bad day. Just bad moments. –Regina Brett, survivor Some days (weeks?) are like that. It seems as if nothing is going the way we would like it to go, in big ways and small. Everyone has those days; yet, somehow, we take little consolation in that fact. Misery may love company, but right now—just leave me alone and let me stew. . . . One of my favorite children’s books is called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day , by Judith Viorst (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1987). The unfortunate protagonist’s day begins with gum in his hair, and it goes downhill from there: he drops his favorite sweater in the toilet, and at breakfast, when everyone else finds a super duper decoder ring or some other fancy schmancy toy in their breakfast cereal, all Alexander finds—is cereal. And it doesn’t get much better. Everything, it seems, goes wrong. The entire universe seems to be conspiring against him! An...

In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. . . . What I’ve discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help is just a prayer away.  –Iyanla Vanzant Our relationship with the Almighty is interesting. We quote Scriptures that characterize God as Father and humans as God’s children. And so we structure our human relationships in a similar fashion, don’t we? As good parents, we encourage our children. From the time they are little, we tell them: You can do this! I know you can! We stress independence and learning skills like zipping zippers and tying shoes. It’s all about being prepared to grow up and leave the nest, able to survive on our own. And yet. With God the Father, it’s different. Sure, God wants (and expects) us to use the gifts God has equipped us with. God wants us to be capable human beings. But at the same time, God invites and encoura...

In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.  –J. Gresham Machen It’s almost always easier to slap a label on a person or group and ass-u-me what they believe, than it is to actually take the time to ask questions and listen for answers without jumping in with retorts and comebacks. These days, Christianity is divided into camps that both claim to fly the “Jesus banner.” One camp is conservative; the other calls itself progressive, or liberal. These terms are opposites, right? How could Jesus possibly be both ? I’d say it completely depends on who’s defining the terms, and how . From where I sit, I would choose to pin the liberal label on Jesus, and here is why: We serve a God of abundance, whose very being is an example of limitless grace and generosity. Especially in the “Love Department,” God doesn’t know how...