Yearly Archives: 2020

When I was a kid, I noticed a bird dangling from the telephone wires that stretched across my back yard.  Somehow, that bird had flown directly into the intertwined wires and had gotten its head caught between strands.  It was flapping its wings in desperation to free itself, but it […]

Knowing Jesus: Christmas Reflections

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The whole world has divulged into primordial chaos.  At least, that’s what I’m being told.  Between pandemic worries, political worries, church worries, family worries, health worries, mental health worries, economic worries, and worries about worry, the world around us feels chaotic and frightening. A friend recently wrote, “ Instead of […]

Good, Good Father

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When your day is longAnd the nightThe night is yours aloneWhen you’re sure you’ve had enoughOf this lifeWell hang onDon’t let yourself go‘Cause everybody criesAnd everybody hurts sometimes -R.E.M. – Everybody Hurts  I was at a socially distanced, outdoor gathering recently and came to a strange realization.  I had very […]

Everybody Hurts Sometimes

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Some churches are uniquely situated to thrive during COVID-19, and they all share a few common traits.  It has little to do with how good their technology is, their video-editing skills, or the strength of their worship team, and everything to do with how they are organized.  Internally-focused churches are […]

The Churches Thriving During this Pandemic

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I know we’ve all dealt with various hardships brought about by the pandemic, but I think that the hardest thing isn’t what the pandemic has caused, but what it has revealed.   It has revealed the severe limits of the faith of many of our people, who are turning to […]

A Lament

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Pastoring through a pandemic, as it turns out, is really, really hard.  Every pastor I know has been caught in the whirlwind of moving services online, managing health concerns, and trying to remain connected to the congregation but constantly feeling disconnected despite our efforts.  I have not yet known a […]

We can do better than this.

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There is little denying that the church is changing in response to this pandemic.  More churches than ever before have begun broadcasting their worship services online.  The church’s reach has increased, and many people worship with more than one congregation, often choosing to engage with at least one church outside […]

Coronavirus, Change and the Church

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If you could see the world through your enemy’s eyes, you would see God. You would see God in greater detail than you have ever known him, if you could see the world through your enemy’s eyes. As I was writing my last post, I was searching for a certain […]

Part III: Divine Revelation

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Every good story requires a shared understanding of context. If a person tries reading John Steinbeck’s masterful “The Grapes of Wrath” with a 21st century context instead of properly understanding its early 20th century context, details of the story will seem absurd. Farming in the 20th century was vastly different […]

Part II:  Context and Conversion

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