Passages

Yesterday was my first day as the pastor at St. James Presbyterian Church, and this Sunday will be the first day I preach there in that capacity. So I’ve been reflecting on the concept of passages, how we pass through to new places and new stages and even new ways of being throughout our lives. …

Read more

God is Here, Now

A Prayer Among Friends by John Daniel Among other wonders of our lives, we are alive with one another, we walk here in the light of this unlikely world that isn’t ours for long. May we spend generously the time we are given. May we enact our responsibilities as thoroughly as we enjoy our pleasures. …

Read more

New Place, New Ministry, New Possibilities

Soon I will celebrate my 10-year anniversary of ordination. Unbelievable. I have been serving Grace Commons and its predecessor, Wicker Park Grace, for ten years. Even as new possibilities open up, I will continue to serve as the pastor at Grace Commons–but things are changing! Beginning November 1st, I will also become the half-time pastor …

Read more

The good, the bad and the inconvenient

by Marge Piercy Gardening is often a measured cruelty: what is to live and what is to be torn up by its roots and flung on the compost to rot and give its essence to new soil. It is not only the weeds I seize. go down the row of new spinach— their little bright Vs …

Read more

A Note on Bible Study

I am the vine, you are the branches.

From the bulletin at Grace Commons: We study and discuss the bible a lot at Grace Commons, and we do it as a way to stay in touch with our roots, but also to develop our own theology and to reinterpret the old texts in ways relevant to contemporary situations and understandings. The bible is …

Read more