Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! Let us be the church today. I woke up in darkness this morning, after a fitful night, to the news that our world has changed.  Now I do not presume to know how you are feeling right now.  If you are fine with the election results I welcome the invitation to talk with you and the vision you voted for.  We all need to be in conversation.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! What if we took All Saints Day seriously? Oh, I know we do already.  It is one of my favorite services as we celebrate those who have died in the past year and lift up their names in the midst of singing.  How meaningful and important this is.  We will do so tomorrow in our one worship service at 10 am.  No, what I mean is, what if we took seriously the meaning behind All Saints Day and acted upon it?

Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! My mom gave me a dime to give away. I was five, it was Sunday morning, I was probably running late again, and as I raced out the back door to cross the alley to church, my mom gave me a dime. “Now remember to put this in the offering plate when you get to Sunday School,” she told me.  I said I would, and I did.  Every Sunday. Mom gave me a dime to give to the church which would then be given to someone else...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! Jesus sends before him seventy of his followers into every town and place (Luke 10:1-12).  This is the first time in the gospels we go first. Here’s why I would go: My earliest memories have church in them. Magical Christmas Eve services.  Running around the church feeling it was my second home.  Sliding under the pews. Being surrounded by people who always smiled at me. ...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! Blessings upon our animal companions.  Greta was a miniature black and tan dachshund who joined the family as a six-month old when I was nine.  She had a crooked tail, never chased a stick or a ball, didn’t play with toys and spent most of her life under a blanket, along with being a steadfast companion to grandpa who wasn’t well and needed someone like her.  Thank you, Greta, for being different than your average dog and the ways you blessed grandpa’s life, and my own.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! I missed this one. When I first began as Pastor/Head of Staff at my previous church in Cleveland way back in 1995 I preached a four-sermon series on models for the church.  I suggested that the church could be a Center for Wellbeing, a School of the Spirit, a Circle of Stories, and a Welcoming Home.  We made banners for each one and began to pattern our ministry around these themes. I should have added A House of Prayer.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! We pray the answer every Sunday. If you ever want to know, or anyone ever asks you to define Christianity, or what churches do, or who we are as followers of Jesus, recite the Lord’s Prayer.  It has everything we need to know.  And it may surprise you. With the help of scholar Obery M. Hendricks and his book, The Politics of Jesus, here goes...

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! “So who is going to preach?” This question lingered in my Honda Accord for several exits as we headed down Interstate 71 from Wooster, Ohio, to Cow Creek, Kentucky.  There were three of us in the car that fall Friday in 1980:  Jim, now a retired cardiologist, Jenny, who married me twenty years later, and me.  All seniors in college, we had volunteered to lead worship for Joe Powlas, long-time pastor, missionary, and friend who would be away that weekend from this tiny hamlet in the hollers. So we drew straws, and I literally came up with the short stick. Yikes. ...