[Trigger/content warning] Over the dozen years I’ve been in pastoral ministry, there have been many reasons why people I know have walked away from their faith, from God, from spirituality, joining the ever-growing ranks of ‘nones’ (those who claim no religious affiliation). For many, it is the problem of suffering and evil in the world …
This is what I shared with my church on the morning of Sunday, January 29, 2023: As a staff, we felt it important to talk more directly about last weekend’s shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay among the Asian American community, and then the release of the videos showing the murder of Tyre …
Read more “Reflecting on Monterey Park, Half Moon Bay, and Tyre Nichols”
The following is the text of what I said to Christ City Church on Sunday, June 26, 2022. You can watch the video, including Pastor Lisa’s prayer, at the end of the post. The Protestant theologian Karl Barth said, “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” …
From Sunday’s liturgy at Christ City Church; May 29, 2022. I am so tired of waiting.Aren’t you,for the world to become goodand beautiful and kind?Let us take a knifeand cut the world in two—and see what worms are eatingat the rind. Langston Hughes When hard things happen, when suffering shows up, when loss lingers, when …
We all want somewhere to belong, don’t we? Somewhere to call home. Somewhere we’re known. Somewhere we can be ourselves. Somewhere we can invite those we love and care about. Belonging is not solely about church, obviously, but the Church needs to consider belonging and community, because community is one of the things churches overpromise …