The Pastorate - Gathering In Light

Gathering In Light

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The Pastorate

A collection of 28 posts

A Little An Aside About The Quaker Nomad

In my last post, I wrote about Natalie Ramsland’s zine-making Quaker Project, Fold in the Light. It’s fresh, original, and inspiring. But I left out an aside I wanted to share here: One of the zines she included in the mail sent to me is of a Quaker

Origin Stories: Celebrating Barberton Friends Church

Recently, Barberton Evangelical Friends Church in Barberton, Ohio – the first church I ever worked in – celebrated their 75th anniversary. As a token of my own love and appreciation for this community and their investment in me, I wanted to share some of my fond memories and role this community played

Memory of Love: Practicing Pregnant Absence

“You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

Are You Still Here? Thoughts on Leave-Taking

After telling a friend of mine that my family and I would be leaving the NW in a few months for a job change, she offered solid wisdom I have hung onto: “Do your best to pay attention to everything that is happening around, the emotions, the reactions, the people

Convers(at)ions in Community: On Creating Space for Dialogue Around the Sermon

Convers(at)ions in Community: On Creating Space for Dialogue Around the Sermon

This is a third post in a series of reflections on the nature of dialogue and transformation, or “convers(at)ion” as I am referring to it as for a little playfulness (see a and b). These are some ideas of how we try to inhabit some of the ideas

Writing the Ending Is Always Hard

One of the things I struggle with the most are endings. Whether it is writing endings, envisioning the ending of a project, or saying goodbye. I struggle with exit strategies. I have no problem getting started. I love a good opening story. A hearty laugh or a compelling metaphor. I

Holding Tension in Community

There are many “tensions” or differences that we run into when building and existing within community. A faith community is no different. I think Camas Friends Church excels at doing this kind of work together. Here are some of the things I have learned from the way this meeting does

In the Deep End With Grief: Thoughts On Pastoral Care to Those Hurting Most

In the Deep End With Grief: Thoughts On Pastoral Care to Those Hurting Most

As the previous year comes to a close, I’m reposting some articles from 2014 I wrote elsewhere on the web. This is a post I wrote about grief that originally posted on the blog Antioch Session. I find it hard to carry the weight of my own pain, let

Nancy Duarte on Effective Communication

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfQF3DXG-S4&w=640&h=360]

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Thinking Quakers, Money and Stewardship

A couple months back I started feeling the tug to wrestle with the topic of money in the church. As a preacher, I’ve largely avoided the topic like the plague. These are the kinds of things I nightmares about. I was a budding and impressionable young man when PTL

“On the Harm We Have Done” (A Prayer)

Here is a moving prayer confessing the harm that we the church can too often cause: OUR Father, we look back on the years that are gone and shame and sorrow come upon us, for the harm we have done to others rises up in our mem- ory to accuse

Advice to Ministers – Hannah Whitall Smith

Here is sound advice written to ministers, but really it’s good for any situation. “Years ago I came across this sentence in an old book: ‘Never indulge, at the close of an action, in any self-reflective acts of any kind, whether of self-congratulation or of self-despair. Forget the things

Fall and Winter in the Life of the Spirit

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. – Jesus (John 10:10 NRSV)I love Fall. It is a beautiful transition time from summer to winter. From a time of abundance to a time of rest, where

The Resurrection Community Part 1: Standing in the Midst (John 20:19-23)

This was my prepared message for worship last Sunday. It is the first in a series looking at what it means to be the church in relationship to the final resurrection appearances of Jesus in the Gospel of John. _behind locked doors What is the first thing we can learn

To Bless and Not to Curse (Openings and Closures): Romans 12:14

Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Romans 12:14 Queries :: 1. What does it really mean to bless/curse another person with language? 2. In what ways have I been a recipient of both blessings or curses? How have these things impacted my life? 3. What

Peace Through Equality: Lucretia Mott, Paul and MLK (Galatians 3:26-29)

This was the message I gave this morning based on Galatians 3:26-29. First we discussed some of these queries: 1. What do you think the connections between peace and equality are in the passages above? 2. In what ways have I experienced inequality in my own life or around

All My Favorite People Are Grieving

This morning we did a worship and prayer service around making “peace with loss.” Through prayers, songs, silence and the lighting of candles we remembered the many who have lost loved ones in the past year, and considered those who have suffered loss in other ways as well. In some

Resource: Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Every Christmas Eve we have a very nice, contemplative candlelight service. This gathering goes for about 45-60 minutes, includes scripture reading, poetry, prayers and music. Oh and plenty of candles. The second one also has three readers. You are free to download the resources here and use them however you

Church in Mission

Creating Communities of “Artists”

This morning I noticed a torn piece of paper with something I’d written on it from awhile back: * How do we form a community that creates artists rather than just critics? * Justice should always come first, justice is innovative. I am not sure what I was reading when I

Being A “Released” Minister

I recently went through and changed most of my online profiles, email signatures, and even our bulletin for Sunday morning it from “pastor” to “released minister” as that language seems to fit where I am at better. So now, at least on paper, that’s the language I use to

Interfaith Clergy Letter to the Editor in Clark County

(This is a letter a group of us from Clark County wrote in response to some of the controversy surrounding September 11th this past week. We submitted it to our local papers which did not pick it up so I thought I’d post it here.) This year, a small

State of the Meeting Reports (Not Just Yet)

I decided I wanted to jump start a new tradition at Camas Friends today so I took the initiative and ran with it. I’ve been working on a state of the meeting report with the elders for a couple months and I’ve really been wanting to present it

Sometimes the Long Days Are Really Good

A lot of people want to know what a pastor does with her or his time throughout the day. I have one person who mentioned that they figured I had a lot of free time, because “pastor’s don’t do much more than prepare sermons right?” Right? Well not

Doing Film Events in the Church

One idea we’ve been doing at our church (Camas Friends) we started last fall, it’s called “Last Sunday’s for the Earth.” The idea was to create a forum where topics could be discussed using films as a starting point for those conversations. We have shown a number

The Final Word?

I got into an interesting discussion today with a gentleman after our meeting for worship about unprogrammed Quakers. He said he had heard “Silent” worship described by someone (a non-Quaker) as similar to a séance and wondered if the practice really is non-Christian. I think it’s a fair question.