Pastoral Meanderings

I have noticed a real buzz going on among Roman Catholics who are restoring a sense of beauty and reverence to older church buildings who we...

A few words about the setting of a comment.  Where I serve, the first two lessons are read from the lectionary at the lectern.  Between the ...

I see that the obituaries in my city have universally abandoned the term funeral in favor of the much more positive "Celebration of Lif...

I normally do not read the Huffington Post but a friend pointed me to an article by Tim Suttle on Why Evangelicals Need Lent.   In it an eva...

In 2008, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene , there were 55,391 total deaths in New York City. Also in 2...

Sermon Preached for the First Sunday in Lent, March 13, 2011.     When my children were small, I could hear their every whimper.  In chur...

I was pointed in the direction of an article on-line at Christianity Today that deals with the issue of the those who are leaving the Churc...

In the now famous video of Pres. Harrison explaining the three fold emphasis of witness, mercy, and life together, he makes a small comment ...

"If each and every local congregation does not make the solemn, sacred, self-effacing worship of God its absolute pastoral priority, on...

This week something amazing happened.  It took place in a small Lutheran country church.  This congregation has been in the same cornfield s...

NEWS UPDATE:  You can download an app to filter out all references to Charlie Sheen from your web browsing!  You will no more be subject to ...

A little late, to be sure, but, as they say, better late than never...  Why do we call it SHROVE Tuesday? The word SHROVE is from the old ...

Sermon for Ash Wednesday, preached on Wednesday, March 9, 2011.       I tell you straight up that I have no desire to relive my life or t...

Sermon preached for the Transfiguration of Our Lord, on Sunday, March 6, 2011.     How many times don't we blurt out to somebody, ...

As I heard the first confession of a young penitent, I harkened back to my own first, hesitant, and fearful attempt at private confession --...

The immanence of our Lenten days has its source in the bishops' gathering during the great ecumenical council in the Turkish town of Ni...

Unless you have hidden under a rock for the past generation or two, it is obvious that a new virtue has arisen to primacy in the pantheon of...