Over the past few years, in an effort to build intergenerational community, many congregations have set their worship spaces up to include a designated area for young worshipers. Dubbed “pray-grounds,” these spaces sometimes offer child friendly furniture, resources, and lessons for young people in worship. I highlighted a number of them in this article. Though […]
Pew Boxes for Interactive Worship Read More »
I can’t imagine communion without children being present, partaking in the sacrament right alongside adults. I’m always taken aback, then, when I hear of people or churches requiring communion be reserved for children of a certain age, or for children who have completed some “to do” on the checklist, such as a public profession of
Children at the Table: Some Thoughts on Communion and Children Read More »
Recently I had the opportunity to hear from a young mom who had grown up in the church, spent some time away after she got married, and was now looking to bring her children back to faith in the church. Among many valid critiques about why church was becoming a frustrating experience for her as
Stop Giving Parents the Stink Eye In Church Read More »
Last Sunday, November 5th, was my 39th birthday. As I sat around a table with my family and a few friends, the news of the Sutherland Springs massacre started to come in on our phones. When we were cleaning up the plates of cake and ice cream I glanced at my phone. Tags on
Sutherland Springs, One Week Later // Moving Beyond Thoughts and Prayers Read More »
The older I get, the more convinced I am that our spiritual health and wellness is vital to our physical, emotional, and psychological health and wellness as well. (I guess I’m in the right profession!) In other areas of wellness I see a lot of resources for assessment. There are lots of ways to
Taking a Spiritual Inventory (with printable worksheet!) Read More »
I went to seminary to get the tools and training to help teach people faith, never expecting my own faith would be challenged nearly to the point of breaking. And yet, like so many others, that’s exactly what happened. The story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho snuck up on me out of nowhere.
Doubts and Questions as Teachers of the Faith #KidMin Read More »
Author Philip Pullman said, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” The human ability to tell stories to one another in order communicate deep truths is a feature of every human culture and civilization “Once upon a time, our ancestors…” or “In the beginning, God.” It
The Power of Storytelling || Some Thoughts Read More »
Today begins a sermon series on the book More than Enough: Living Abundantly in a Culture of Excess by Lee Hull Moses. We’re doing an online book study (through a closed Facebook group) and I’m using the free worship planning guide to give sermon starters and some interactive station ideas. Today’s theme is abundance. As folks walked
Sermon Remix: Abundance and the Feeding of the 5,000 Read More »
Christ is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! This morning’s message is not one I want to reprint or excerpt. Instead I’ll give a summary of some of the things discussed and link to some things I found interesting as I prepared the sermon. I started out by borrowing a little bit of the intrigue from
Sermon Remix: Resurrection || Easter 2017 Read More »
This is the week when we come face to face with the dark details of crucifixion. I have to admit how incredibly uncomfortable I am with this story. I think most people are, if we stop long enough to think about it. It’s incredibly violent. Senseless. Painful. We are confronted not just with what happened,
Sermon Remix: Why did Christ Die on the Cross? Read More »
