I’ve have spent much of the last several years researching congregational vitality, partnering with congregations and their leaders all over the country to ask what makes healthy congregations tick. The results have been fascinating…and encouraging. Part of what I’ve discovered is that every congregation has the capacity to flourish when provided the right support, guidance, and leadership. This work has shaped my teaching tremendously, turning upside down some of the things I thought I knew and stretching me in all kinds of ways I would not have imagined even five years ago. It’s also strongly influenced my writing, both on and...

First and foremost, thanks to all those who have been sending notes and posting comments about our upcoming move. You’ve all be incredibly gracious and supportive, and it’s been cool to connect in this way with folks I’ve known since college and others that I don’t know at all except for our shared time on the internet. I appreciate it greatly. Second, I’ve decided to take a sabbatical from the blog. That’s not been an easy decision, as I’m just plain embarrassed by how much I’ve come to love this way of interacting with you all and thinking about the faith. The daily devotions – which started as a Lenten discipline and...

Over the course of the last few months, I’ve had the occasional email or comment asking, essentially, “What’s going on?” This question has usually been in response to a comment I made about taking some risks or contemplating an adventure or something else of that nature. After lots of thought, prayer, and conversation regarding a variety of opportunities that have presented themselves over the last year, my family and I have indeed decided to embark upon something of an adventure. “Something” in that it’s not that dramatic or perhaps even adventuresome , but definitely represents a change for us: we’re moving to...

Sooner or later you make a choice. Do you think you’re the center of the world, or can you give those around you the benefit of the doubt, imagine sympathetically the challenges they may face, and emphasize and identify with them rather than see them as opponents or obstacles? I know that sounds like an easy choice, but as David Foster Wallace says, we are faced with this choice on numerous occasion nearly every day of our lives, and all too often we settle for the default setting where we assume our challenges are greater than those faced by others, our frustrations more valid and vexing, our excuses more understandable, our priorities...

Name the one thing that, if you could get it tomorrow, would make you totally happy. If you’re at all like me, you probably had no trouble thinking of something. Or, actually, if you had a problem, it was limiting yourself to just one thing. And therein lies the key, actually, to our unhappiness. Somewhere along the line, we bought into the idea that if we could only get a little more we’d be happy. A little more money, a little more vacation time, a little better car or house, a little better job, a fancy new gadget… any of these things – depending on who you are – will make you happy. But it’s a lie. A lie constructed by our...

Ever try to limit yourself to just three words when you try to describe something special: a wonderful meal? a great movie? a favorite book? It can be really, really challenging. But at other times, on rare occasions, it’s incredibly easy. That’s the case with this TED Talk by Hyeonseo Lee as she talks about her escape from North Korea and subsequent life as a refugee and, eventually, activist. Three words: courageous, compelling, and (especially in light of our recent discussions) beautiful. I’ll say no more, except that to watch this video is to gain an appreciation for freedom, courage, and the human spirit. Note: If you are...

I thought this short video was a perfect counter point to, or maybe extension, of yesterday’s post – and comments! – about beauty. Chris Heuertz has spent his life working with the poorest of the poor and, most recently, working with children, women, and men who have been caught up in and abused by human trafficking. You can read more about him and his work at Word Made Flesh and on his blog – great title, btw – If I Blogged…. But he’s not just about advocacy or even help. He’s mostly about community, about living with and helping people fashion resilient communities that have weathered the difficult moments that any real...

With Earth Day in mind, I’m going to suggest you find the time to watch Bill Gates’ TED Talk about why he’s backing – and investing heavily in – a new kind of energy technology that has phenomenal potential to change, well, just about everything about the energy conversation. The challenges we face, as Gates describes, are monumental. But so also is the creativity and commitment of some of the folks leading the charge to find solutions to our problems. If you’ve seen Bill Gates give earlier presentations, it’s kind of neat to see his growth in terms of his confidence, his use of illustrations and data, and his ability to engage...

Fred Rogers was a regular and important part of my childhood and continues, well after his death, to continue to serve as an inspiration. Recently the Huffington Post re-ran a picture of “Mr. Rogers” with some advice his mother gave him on how to cope with tragedy. Many have found it helpful as they think about how to talk with their children about tragedy. Typical of his style, the advice is simple, practical, and clear: When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’...

Framing is everything. Do you call it “gun control” or “gun safety”? Are they “taxes” or “contributions”? Is your work in “fund raising” or “development”? The way you name these issues is not simply semantics, nor is it “spin.” The language we use contributes to the reality we perceive and interact with. This is never more true than when it comes to issues that touch upon cultural values. Which is why I think this TED Talk on mental illness is so important. We’ve heard a lot about mental health in the news of late, particularly the inadequate resources we have to help those suffering from mental illness and...

It’s snowing here. Yes, 4-5 inches of slushy, wet, heavy, but still very cold snow fell last night and today making a mess of driving, public transportation, and flights. And it’s April 11th. Some friends and I have agreed that the best way to deal with this is to trick ourselves into thinking it’s really late February, not mid April. But I when I stumbled upon this short video of a rather creative promotional by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s famous art museum, I found another way: humorous diversion. The museum, eager to promote it’s re-opening, staged a recreation of one of native son Rembrandt’s famous paintings, “The Night...