We received two cries for help this past week: one from our bishop friend in Liberia, and one from missionaries in Burma. In Liberia they are experiencing a food shortage-money simply goes to supply basic needs. The ebola outbreak, civil wars, conflicts, skirmishes and perhaps corruption deny services to many. We send our small contribution […]
Category: Blog
Blog: A web-based collection of stories just for you.
My Family History class recently compiled a small anthology of our writings. We were giddy with excitement upon seeing the final product entitled “Our Memories.” I was slightly cross-eyed from editing this slim volume, but it was well worth it; the stories are priceless. A young girl’s passage to America and adulthood, an idyllic Mexican […]
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Dear friend
We write letters. I know that’s a bit strange in this age of e-mail, text messages, Snapchat and the like, but it’s true. Perhaps we are just old-fashioned, passé, and out of date (like the Oxford comma), but there’s something special about a hand-written missive. People regularly tell us how encouraging those letters are, how […]
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A Cloud of Witnesses
Our Celebration of the Faithful was once again a needed reminder of the “cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us and who both inform and help complete our faith. Contrary to the illusion of relentless individualism, we are indeed indebted. Probably more so than we could fathom even if we were to try. First […]
We just finished our Celebration of the Children and it was brilliant! Thirty some years ago our pastors conceived the idea of a church calendar where sacred events would be celebrated as a church family. We would celebrate the faithful, that “cloud of witnesses” such as the ones listed in Hebrews 11. We would set […]
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One another
“I will wait. I wait. I will wait.” So sing Mumford and Sons. Their words are literally music to our ears. Everyone longs for happily ever after, to be waited for, to be special, considered, loved. All too often we regard this as romantic love, but God has a far bigger vision than this. He […]
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Loneliness
Old faces light with joy, wrinkled visages are wreathed with smiles, gnarled hands tentatively reach out. Gifts are proferred- Graham crackers, withered apples, spotted bananas, and the kids receive them. The fog of pain, loneliness, and confusion is penetrated, if only fleetingly. Mother Teresa has said that loneliness is the greatest poverty, and we believe […]
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How Jesus makes all things new!
Our friend who babysits for us was having a conversation with me about how people who didn’t know her before she was a Christian can’t imagine was she was like. When she told them how she had gotten in the pastor’s face and yelled at him, they were shocked and aghast. “And they let you […]
A Banquet Anniversary Saturday night we served a banquet to 240 people who came to support a vital inner-city ministry. We realized this was something of an anniversary as we had been serving this group for 25 years; this also marked the inception of our banquet ministry. The first time we were asked to come […]