When I was hired as the pastor of Camas Friends one of the things that the elders told me was that they hoped to have unprogrammed (aka silent or open) worship quarterly. This was an attractive idea to me and I was glad they were willing to support this type of worship in our meeting.Continue reading “Preparing for Unprogrammed Worship in A Programmed (Quaker) Meeting”
Category Archives: Six Months Quaker Preacher
Creating Liberated Spaces: Some Thoughts
Back in February, and on the dawn of Transfiguration Sunday, about 30 (?) folks piled into a Southeastern Portland home to share in a conversation being facilitated by two out of towners Eliacin Rosario-Cruz (Seattle) and Mark Van Steenwyk (Minnesota). The crowd was made up of a number of men and women from a variety ofContinue reading “Creating Liberated Spaces: Some Thoughts”
A Prayer for Those in Need
Here is a prayer we prayed one Sunday morning after reflecting on those who have great needs in our town. God of the broken, God of the wanderer, Christ who is without shelter, Surround those in deep need among us. Surround them and help us hear their cries for help. We are a people whoContinue reading “A Prayer for Those in Need”
The Three Prodigals – Luke 15:11-32
This is the sermon from last week. prodigal 1 spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant : prodigal habits die hard. 2 having or giving something on a lavish scale : the dessert was crunchy with brown sugar and prodigal with whipped cream. See note at profuse. This was broken into three scenesContinue reading “The Three Prodigals – Luke 15:11-32”
Different Days Off
We decided to experiment with changing my days off, so I worked on Monday and am planning on taking Friday off. I have been taking Mondays off since I began pastoring last May. While it’s been really nice to have a free day where pressure from Sunday’s preparation doesn’t loom so eminently, starting work on TuesdaysContinue reading “Different Days Off”
Fast/Face
I’ve been scaling back my time on twitter for sometime; I nearly deleted the account a month ago but had too many friends ask me not to do it so I reconsidered. Now I checked only irregularly and mostly use an autopost type feature to place updates there. I did this so I could freeContinue reading “Fast/Face”
A Beginning and an Ending
Today was “one of those days.” That’s what I told the barista at the local coffee shop and that’s how I felt. It just seemed like I kept spinning my wheels all day. At the end of the work day I prayed, “God, where was your Light at today?” Which was my way of saying,Continue reading “A Beginning and an Ending”
The New Quakers: A Faithful Betrayal? (Quaker Life Article)
Quaker Life Magazine published an article of mine called “The New Quakers: A Faithful Betrayal?” in their January/February 2010 issue. A number of people have asked for me to share it with them so they could read it, so I checked with the editor of QL, Katie Terrell, and gave me permission to share itContinue reading “The New Quakers: A Faithful Betrayal? (Quaker Life Article)”
The 39 Steps at Portland Center Stage
This past Friday Emily and I were gifted with some tickets to the Portland Center Stage theater to watch the remake of Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps.” At first we thought the night was going to be a bust. When we got to the playhouse Emily had our 3 mo. old in a sling and theContinue reading “The 39 Steps at Portland Center Stage”
Hitting the Brakes
Even though I still intend on following my six-month project on being a Quaker minister, I’ve been slowing down on my blogging as part of my need to hit the brakes on all things that pull me away from other duties. This has included my internet usage, though I am sure it is still higher thanContinue reading “Hitting the Brakes”
