At some point in my conversation with new members, I say something like this: “I believe God has always given us everything we need at every moment to fulfill the mission God has given us as a church.” I then tell them how excited I am to learn what new thing God is...

Who knew that in the heat of July we’d be experiencing what we always anticipate and plan for during the high holy days of the Christian faith: the waiting of Advent and the darkness of Lent. We’re familiar with “Christmas in July,” but now Easter too? We currently...

I recently returned to Dallas from a two-week trip to North Carolina. The change of scenery and respite from the Texas heat were good for my soul. Of course, this trip looked quite a bit different than any other trip to North Carolina I have made since moving to...

Benediction. It literally means a good word, a blessing. Today at the end of worship, we offer a blessing for Ryan and Mia and Bates and Elsie Wilson. In a few days they will leave Dallas and head east. Ryan will become Minister of Spiritual Formation and...

Much of our life is spent in waiting. This is inescapable, because every present moment contains a future that has not yet arrived. We may fear it, or we may love it. We may hope for it, or we may try to hide from it. But we must wait for it. In his 1981 classic, "The...

Like many parents, Chad and I find ourselves daily wading through conversations with our daughter that are tough to have with another adult, yet alone a 5-year-old. Some days it’s processing grief over how the virus has left nothing unchanged in our lives; some days...

Last week I had the privilege of helping to record some of the songs that will be used for our take-home Vacation Bible School happening this week. The theme this year is Who Is My Neighbor? Several of the songs I already knew, but one was brand new to me and was...

How do we prepare for worship with a pandemic on, routines out of place, lots of folks — or not enough folks — underfoot, and America’s whiteness problem staring us straight in the face? That is the question we are facing today. Except, are we reading this Saturday...

The pious among us will say they had to be in worship this week. The events of recent days have been so overwhelming as to drive them to their knees in prayer. The less pious among us will wonder how they could muster the courage for worship this week. The events of...

In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy … (Acts 2:17a) I have a brother who is 17 months younger than I and a sister who is younger by five years. By the time we became...