Thoughts

GC

Some of the most difficult questions I face on a weekly basis are some of the most basic ones to ministry. “Who is God?” “What is the Church?” “What is Church for?” “What are people supposed to do with their lives?” “What are Christians supposed to do?” I think often about what Langcliffe is being called to do this week, month, year, and decade. One thing is clear: there’s a lot to do. But what does God want our church, specifically, to do here and now in Avoca in 2016? People say the Bible is the instruction book for things like this,…
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Evangelism for Goats

This Sunday, I’m preaching on Matthew 25 as we begin a five-week series on the “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations” by Robert Schnase, and the first chapter is “Radical Hospitality.” After reading the chapter, I can see that our church does well at this, for the most part. Our Vacation Bible School day met his highest standard for a welcoming, hospitable VBS that reached neighborhood children, not just our own. One thing we might be less practiced at – or at least one thing I’m less practiced at – is knowing what we have and why we want to offer…
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Don’t Vote

Don’t vote in this year’s presidential election. Apparently, from what people are telling me, both real choices are awful, and I hear there are two “third party” candidates that likely won’t get enough votes to win a single state. So here’s my advice: don’t cast a vote for president. Instead, cast votes that matter. The policies that most directly affect your neighbors (you know, the people Jesus told you to love) are decided at the state and local level. For Avoca, that means Representative Mike Carroll and Senator John Blake at the state level, and Representative Matt Cartwright at the federal level – along…
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Stop Shooting

It’s not often that I get overwhelmed by the news. Maybe this week is just overwhelming for me personally, and then hearing about death on the news sends me a little over the edge. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve got so much cognitive dissonance from knowing so many good people but seeing people do such amazingly horrible things on the news and the internet. There are a lot of things to feel this week, and events are pulling us in so many different directions that it’s hard to tell how to be peacemakers in the midst of the chaos….
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Starting a Business is Hard Work

Six months ago, I wasn't sure that I would ever see a coffee shop open in Avoca. Fortunately, I found someone who was willing and able to take on the role of managing this hypothetical coffee shop as a full-time job! We have an employee, a board of directors, even 501(c)(3) status. We don't yet have a building, but I hope that will change soon.  I recently described the place I'm at in this process as "skiing very quickly down a steep slope." I know how to ski, and I'm doing it pretty well. It's just that, at a certain…
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Bridgebuilders

When I was working as a chaplain at Seven Ranges Boy Scout summer camp, we sang a song from Will Allen Dromgoole’s poem “The Bridge Builder.” It’s the best explanation I’ve heard for working with Boy Scouts: An old man going a lone highway, Came, at the evening cold and gray, To a chasm vast and deep and wide. Through which was flowing a sullen tide The old man crossed in the twilight dim, The sullen stream had no fear for him; But he turned when safe on the other side And built a bridge to span the tide. “Old…
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4 Reasons to Sing Christmas Carols During Advent

It’s easy for us pastor types to get upset about singing songs out of season. For the same reason that you shouldn’t sing Easter songs on Good Friday or during Lent (“Up from the grave he arose”? Not yet!), you shouldn’t sing Christmas songs in Advent. This is theologically sound and correct. It is the way we have celebrated Christmas for generations (before mass media Christmas music consumption). So why does just about every church sing Christmas carols during Advent? I haven’t done any real research on this, but I imagine it has to do with preparation. Christmas songs are…
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Racism and Tribalism in NEPA

The church has an important role to play in the areas of racial justice and immigrant justice. Perhaps your ministry will be multicultural and multiracial (that would be awesome), but even if it is not, the church has work do to as we work to reconcile our past, the possibility of the future and the realm of God for which we all hope. Write a reflection on the issue of cultural sensitivity, racial justice, or reconciliation and how you anticipate it will play into the work you do in a new ministry. The Northeast PA region has a long history…
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The Stolen Mind

This past week I had the chance to sit down and try a project I’ve been eating to do for a while: rewrite an old, public domain science fiction story from Project Gutenberg and update it for 2015. The Stolen Mind is a story that appeared in “Amazing Science Fiction” Volume 7 in 1930, and I’ve rewritten it below. It was a fun experience for someone like me who’s never done fiction before, like writing with training wheels on, and I might try another in the future to learn more about writing fiction. The Stolen Mind  By M. L. Staley …
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I serve a branch of Christianity that has lost about two thirds of its members over the past few decades, consists mostly of churches with less than 100 members, and is currently fracturing over issues such as gay marriage, LGBT ordination, and – of course – money. It’s often lambasted for being liberal and its members are called “the frozen chosen.” So why would I choose to stay within this denomination? Because there’s no place I’d rather be. There is no doubt in my mind that our denomination has been facing a crisis in its identity and how it relates…
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