Call, Conversion, Community

I sat in my study at home yesterday and pictured myself as a parishioner, not necessarily at Stairs, and pondered what I might need to hear on a Sunday morning. As a preacher, I am conscious that most weeks, there are a variety of needs and desires on a Sunday morning, depending on circumstances, personality…

Weaving a Community

One of my colleagues commented last week that she has a completely different position now and she stayed with the same congregation! There is some truth to that, some of the skills ministers need are different, and we need to be conscious of those in our faith communities and beyond who do not have access…

Bravely Following the Star…

What would we do if we were brave? That question, raised by Rev Deborah Blood, the Executive Minister for the United Church of Christ in Maine, at the Annual Regional Meeting last year, has echoed in my head for months. Many of our churches live in fear: fear of the future, fear of not having…

Rebuilding with Faith, Love & Community

You can listen to the audio here. First some back story… unlike much of our Scripture, this reading is dated carefully and precisely, in 520 BC/BCE, according to our calendar. Darius, the super-power of the day, recognized the right of the Jews to rebuild the Temple, but the Temple work languished. Haggai was utterly convinced…

We Make the Road by Walking

A hurricane… the beginning of Intentional Interim Ministry… a federal election called… Those set beside stories from our Bible, I will touch on all of these. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, light. In the beginning, the wind from God swept over the waters of creation, creating life. The winds last week didn’t feel…

Snottin’ and Ballin’

Yesterday, on a beautiful, sunny morning, a small group of Liz Feltham’s family and friends gathered to bear witness as her husband spread her ashes in a place she loved. Later that day, a larger group gathered in a friends home, to share stories, to hear Amazing Grace played on the bagpipes, and to raise…

Five Smooth Stones

There are few stories that are more familiar than the one of David and Goliath. Even the most secular people have some sort of understanding of the story. It comes from more than three thousand years ago, but still has echoes today. Israel has come into the Promised Land and become a significant presence there. With…

Covenant & Cross

Many years ago, when I started wearing a cross, perhaps at my confirmation at the age of 35, one of my brothers-in-law asked me why I would wear a Roman instrument of torture and death around my neck. I have to say that I had never thought of a cross in quite that manner and…

Creating Community

First of all, thank you to those who turned out for the meeting on Tuesday evening to share with the presbytery how you thought things were going in this Interim Ministry time, some of the joys and the challenges and then for inviting me to stay with you another year! This means I will…