Category: Heal

For people who have been hurt by Christianity in any form.

A Sanctuary in Time

It’s hard to really experience sabbatical when I still have to preach, make a bulletin, plan for summer worship and even fall worship (!) because I won’t be able to do that over the summer. There are also grant proposals upon which the future depends… I was hoping I would really be working a lot …

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Church for the 21st Century

I just returned from a 3-day leadership consultation with the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (USA). My good friend and colleague, Rev. Shawna Bowman was there too. She wrote/drew the amazing notes above, while we were talking about new things that are happening or that we wish were happening in the churches. The gathering …

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What I Want to Say

There’s a saying that pastors have about five sermons that they preach again and again throughout their careers. It’s the core message that you want to get across to the world. As I’ve been preaching weekly sermons for two months now, and weekly teachings and reflections for 10 years, I took a moment to list …

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Love your enemies: an illuminated reading

One of the techniques we’ve developed at Grace Commons is to read a scripture while inserting commentary as you go. People have told me that this is similar to expository preaching, although I’ve never learned about that specifically. I find that many people are hungry to better understand biblical stories, and definitely want to un-do …

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Meditation to Relieve Anxiety

Recently I wrote up a meditation for someone who has been experiencing a lot of anxiety about her future. I thought it might be helpful for others, so I’m sharing it here! Here is the idea for a meditation practice you could try: 1. Close your eyes and begin to focus on your breathing. Push …

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