Christmas @ St. Francis’ House

This is a reprint of a post I wrote several years ago. It has been updated since its original posting. Each Advent I read and re-post it here. It is my favorite piece, of all the things I’ve ever written. It continues to challenge me every Advent ———— A friend of mine was walking through [...]

Losing Your Leadership Voice

I enjoyed watching NBC’s “Inside The Obama White House” this week. Rochelle and I always enjoy a peek behind-the-scenes of “the people’s house.” I remember that we stole some Christmas tree ideas from Laura Bush a few years ago. While these specials are typically over-hyped and choreographed (as if the President goes to Five Guys [...]

Permission To Be

I’ve been attempting to pray the daily office with Thomas Merton’s book, A Book Of Hours. Rochelle gave it to me at Christmas. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my life in no way is arranged to pray the hours. So I’ve been doing what I can when I can. This past [...]

All Things New

“And the One who sat on the throne announced to His creation: ‘See, I am making all things new. Write what you hear and see, for these words are faithful and true. It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will see to it that the thirsty [...]

An Advent Prayer

Today, we return to the pen of Walter Breuggemann and his wondeful book of prayers, “Prayers For A Privileged People.” Newborn Beginning…after Caesar The Christ Child is about to be born, the one promised by the angel. Mary’s “fullness of time” has arrived. Except that the birth is scheduled according to the emperor: A decree [...]

Preaching Christmas

A lot of ministers love preaching during Advent. For those of us in free church traditions, this is a time of year we can unapologetically turn to the lectionary and no one will give us grief about it. People also like preaching Advent sermons because words like peace and hope are easy to grab ahold [...]