Lent 2023: Tuesday, February 28
Repent: where do I need to change direction in my life? Pastor David explores this question in relation to how we speak about and care for other people in our lives. Join him in this reading of and reflection on Matthew 12:22-37.
Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Lent 2023: Monday, February 27
Lent 2023: Monday, February 27
Today we explore a fourth theme of the season of Lent. Give: who do I need to care for right now? Pastor David explores this theme through a reading from Matthew 12:1-21, where Jesus cares for others on the Sabbath day.
Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Monday, February 27, 2023
Lent 2023: Friday, February 24
Lent 2023: Friday, February 24
Today Pastor David explores the idea of worship, and the question “how can I better seek the presence of God?” The biblical story for our consideration today is the selection of Matthias as a replacement for Judas Iscariot, found in Acts 1:15-26.
Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Friday, February 24, 2023
Lent 2023: Thursday, February 23
Lent 2023: Thursday, February 23
Today, Pastor David focuses on the key word “fast” and the question “what do we need to put down for this season?” Join him in this reading of John 12:27-33 as we explore this idea from Jesus’s perspective.
Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Thursday, February 23, 2023
Lent 2023: Wednesday, February 22
Lent 2023: Wednesday, February 22
Join Pastor David this season of Lent for daily videos on four themes: repent, fast, worship, and give. Many thanks to Rev. Joe Watkins for providing these guiding themes and questions.
Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Why I’m Not an Evangelical
Earlier this month, I attended a brilliant presentation by Petra Alsoofy, the Outreach and Partnerships Manager from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). You may not be familiar with ISPU: it’s an organization based in Dearborn, Michigan, which was founded after the attacks of September 11, 2001. According to their website, “ISPU provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well-informed dialogue and decision-making.”
ISPU seeks to help everyone understand more about what life is like for American Muslims. That was the emphasis of Petra Alsoofy’s presentation a few weeks ago. She shared lots of information with about fifty of us who gathered together at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Midland. (You can watch her presentation at this link; enter the passcode Xffx&8s9 and you’ll get access to it.)
After Petra’s presentation, I signed up for the ISPU email list. It’s important for me to hear perspectives that are outside my tradition. That’s why, among other things, I have listened to the podcast Inspired (by Interfaith Voices) every week for around fifteen years.
Yesterday, ISPU sent out results of a survey on what American Muslims believe about climate change. The title of the report reads like this: “The Majority of American Muslims Believe that Climate Change is the Result of Human Behavior and that Government Regulation is a Way to Solve for it.”
What I’m writing about today is “Why I’m Not an Evangelical.” I promise, these things are related to each other. Continue reading
Three important practices
Dynamic tension. Compromise. Beauty.
I found these three practices today in a book written by Brian McLaren. It’s called “A Generous Orthodoxy” and was published in 2004. In a chapter titled “Why I Am (Ana)baptist/Anglican,” he explores the reasons why he is attracted to both the Anabaptist and Anglican traditions within the broader Christian family.
The Anglican tradition offers these three practices, which McLaren summarizes in a few paragraphs. These practices speak clearly to what I want to be about as a Christian and to what I believe is important during this season of life in the Church of God and, more broadly, in Christianity (at least in America). Continue reading
Three Years
Two remarkable things happened in my life this past weekend: card games and a choir rehearsal. Now, in and of themselves, playing cards and singing with others are not unusual activities for me. But the specific things we were doing? Those were noteworthy to me:
On Saturday evening, we played euchre in our church’s fellowship hall. On Sunday evening, we had the first rehearsal for the upcoming “Lamb of God” choral/orchestral production.
The last time both of those things happened was three years ago, immediately before the covid-19 pandemic began.
The Christmas Candle
Today I would like to introduce you to a little-known Christmas carol called “The Christmas Candle.” Its lyrics were written a century ago by an American poet named Anna Hempstead Branch. These lyrics were set to music by another female American, a composer named Roberta Bitgood, in 1937.
I discovered this carol when Tara and I sang it with the church choir at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bay City during their Christmas concert this past Sunday afternoon. I can’t find an online recording of the carol for you to listen to, so we’ll have to make do with just the lyrics. But they are powerful enough by themselves. Read them slowly, thoughtfully, carefully: Continue reading
Not a Manger Scene
“No, honey, that’s not a manger scene.”
Those are the words spoken in a single-panel comic by Steve Breen for the San Diego Union-Tribune on December 2, 2022.
In this comic, a few people are walking down a paved sidewalk, surrounded by trees and shrubs in a public park. A couple of strands of white Christmas lights are hanging overhead across the sidewalk. In the foreground, we see an adult and a child – perhaps a grandfather and grandchild – walking hand-in-hand down the path, away from us, as if we are following them on their outdoor walk. They are looking over to the side, where, away from the path and in front of a low brick wall, a young family sits on the ground, huddled together with a few blankets. This family consists of a father, mother, and young child, and they are arranged in such a way that a passerby (like the grandchild) might notice a similarity to the familiar Christmas scene of Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus lying in a manger.
“No, honey, that’s not a manger scene.”
Take a few moments to sit with that comic, and think about it. I’ll share a few thoughts below. Continue reading