While we were waiting for our meal to arrive, Amos showed me photographs of the trip he had taken last year to one of these forgotten villages. It was as if they were lifted from a slideshow from Mercy Ships. Grotesque faces obscured by massive tumors that had never received care. But there was also…

God made a promise to Abraham, to make his name great and to give him more offspring that could be counted. And, God promised to cause Abraham to be the hereditary source of blessing to all the peoples of the earth. Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Abraham and Son of David, came as the anointed…

I love this chainsaw. When a tree fell across our driveway during the big nor’easter last month, this chainsaw – along with the help of members and friends – was instrumental in transforming the obstruction into firewood. But that’s only half the reason I love this saw. If you look closely – and if you…

. I believe that God is showing us through the health challenges of Phil and Linda that we have relied upon a few people to carry the load for the rest of us. This is contrary to our covenant and our understanding as Congregational Christians. Indeed, last week the scriptures reminded us that we are…

“What are you and God working on?” In 1991, it was my privilege to attend the initial gathering of Renovare’, a church renewal movement organized by Richard Foster, perhaps most famous as the author of “Celebration of Discipline,” an international best seller. Renovare’ is from the Latin, but it looks like the word “renovate,” and…

Arthur Rouner, under whom I served in Minnesota, was fond of referring to Congregationalism as “The Pilgrim Way.” We are spiritual descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims. But one of our characteristics is that in a sense, Congregational Christians “own” their church. This is certainly true legally, as the building and other property is not subject…

I received a very fun gift – a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! With its solitary ornament dangling forlornly from a spindly twig of a branch, it is immortal in its representation of how Charlie Brown felt about himself. Yet in the final scene of the famous Charlie Brown Christmas TV special, the same gang of…

It was Christmastime, 1976. My father had died suddenly of a heart attack at age 46 just 6 weeks before. We were staggered. I was limping through my senior year of high school, sometimes stalled by grief, sometimes able to carry on well, until I felt guilty for not remembering my father. My mother, just…