One of the great teachers of my life, the once Jesuit priest Ivan Illich (d. 2002), once said, "I have no interest in 'saving the planet,' but I have every interest in walking decently on the earth." This was not, as it might sound, a statement against the environment. The author of Energy and Equity could hardly be said to lack environmental concern. The statement was, instead, a call for perspective, proportion, and attention to the real in a life. There's no such thing as everything. One can't take it all in. One can live where one is, aware of the world around but not overly caught up in distorted dramas that may or may not represent much of what is. And so it's perspective I want to write about this week. It comes to mind because of the events of the past days that have gotten so much press beginning with the brutal killing of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three with him on September 11. Demonstrations of varying sizes...

I'd like to steal from myself this week. I've been thinking about how God can move within us and not just outside of us — change more than our minds, but transform our minds by reshaping our hearts. I remembered a story that I'd written about before, and I felt like I wanted to share it again. So here it is, a story retold. It's excerpted from Where the Light Shines Through (Brazos Press, 2005), pp, 16-18: I knew an Englishman I’ll call Reggie. He told me of an event that still puzzled him. I knew Reggie to be an intelligent and committed person in general, but in telling me this story he appeared more aware and attentive than usual, full of consciousness and sensation. Now Reggie had for some time been an active member of the SWSO (called “Sweezo”), the Socialist Workers Student Organization in Britain. His membership in this organization was a well-considered expression of his theologically...

Because of vacation, I prepared this week's Echoes entry early. As it turned out, I prepared it on the day that the official report on the Penn State athletics child sex abuse scandal prepared by former FBI Director Louis Freeh was hitting the press (July 12, 2012). As you'll remember, the case involved the now convicted coach Jerry Sandusky and those at Penn State who failed to follow up as aggressively as they should have (including legendary coach Joe Paterno). Anyone who leads programs for children must take the report seriously. Specifics of Penn State aside, anyone in that position is also well aware of how difficult it can be to protect everyone's rights in tough situations — including folks who've been accused of misconduct or crimes. Anyone following the travails of the Catholic church, or disturbing revelations about some church-related schools for Native American in the last century, or recent revelations...

In my "Echoes" entry of April 4, I outlined some ideas behind what's being called the "Missional Movement" in Protestant churches these days. Following the idea that if it's important, you oughta say it (at least) more than once, I want to talk about this some more here. But this time I want to take a little different turn, like looking at another facet of a jewel. I want to think about how we might rethink a few things about "church" in light of all of this. Theologian Brian McLaren is one of a handful of folks often quoted when the idea of "missional church" comes up. He was the morning speaker for General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Monday morning, July 2, in Pittsburgh. In his talk he described four thoughts about the church that are driving the missional movement. He was summarizing, so the ideas weren't all that new. But he crystalized

When I was in graduate school I stumbled across a Greek word for agreement that after a while became kind of important to me. The word is the root of our word homology. In modern use, the word has pretty much been relegated to science — biological patterns that are similar between two organisms. When you dig deeper into its Greek roots, however, homologia is not just about the goal of similarity or agreement. It also speaks of the process toward that agreement. Put simply, it's a kind of agreement that is patterned with, or predicted by, or dependent upon, or inseparable from the process of its achievement. It's basically the unity (homology) of means and ends. In a society so aggressively focused on results, measurement, calculation, ends that justify any means, winning at any cost, fear-driven achievement, individual responsibility...

During the years I was teaching preaching at a university divinity school I was often struck by how eloquent many of our students could be when describing the human condition. They would wax lyrical, find appropriate metaphors, use telling examples of life experiences, and identify with their audience in ways that kept their hearers’ attention and interest. They could use classical rhetorical moves to great effect, taking us to worlds of poverty, illness, struggle, or anxiety with surprising deftness. If there were a preaching Pulitzer for that sort of thing, I’d have had some nominees. As I took note of my students’ persuasive skills, I began to notice something else too. I began to notice that many of these same students, most of them preparing...

Theologians like to make up words — or use old words differently. Some folks call these "neologisms" (how's that for a word?). Every once in a while one of those words catches on, goes viral, and makes a difference. The word "missional" is one of those. It's spreading through the church, with impact. Books written (Missional Church; Cultivating Missional Communities; A New Missional Era; The Missional Church in Perspective), conferences had, websites put up, and blog articles written. Over the course of about 20 years the word has become a part of church culture, at least among "mainline" (or "oldline") Protestants. Alongside this word "missional," another term has also arisen, and that's "emergent." Coming from different sides of Protestant life — "missional" coming out of the mainline and "emergent" coming out of Evangelical churches — the two terms try to describe a singular phenomenon facing...

Is it personal or is it social? The question rings through debates that have vexed much of the church over the past couple centuries. It's been a debate over the message itself. What have we to say to those who ask? Which side are we on? Why is the other side so wrong about Jesus' message? But what if neither side is wrong, except in rejecting the other? What if it's both, and there's a big, wide, whole message to tell? What if the important question is not if the gospel is personal or social, but how it is personal and social? Jim Wallis, from the Sojourners Community, became famous for his swiss cheese bible. He took scissors and cut out each verse of scripture that speaks of God's call to tend to the poor, and the stranger, and the homeless, and the hopeless. With 2000 verses cut out, there were a lot of holes in his bible. And the verses missing weren't just about giving a cup of water or your second coat away. They were also...

My friend Lillian Daniel is a United Church of Christ pastor outside of Chicago. She's good with an acerbic quip, and she excels at giving words to a disposition. She's been writing for the Huffington Post lately. Last September she wrote a short piece, bursting out with her private frustration with what's now acronymed SBNR ("Spiritual but not religious") talk. Her post, "Spiritual But Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me," went "viral." It got comments and criticisms from all over the place. She struck the proverbial nerve. Here's the first and last paragraph of her short post: On airplanes, I dread the conversation with the person who finds...

Been thinking about giving of late. End of the year sort of thing for most pastors, as we watch in wonder and gratitude as our people give love and money to both the church and to many important causes. Giving at Pinnacle has been generous. I shouldn't be surprised. This congregation is full of wonderfully generous folk. In a world of development experts, fund raising techniques, endless analyses of giving trends, "benevolence" mindedness, financial anxiety, economic uncertainty, and more, there is no shortage of talk about Christian giving. As I think about this myself I want to offer up four historic principles, or ideas, about...

Thinking about the new year, I'm taken back to a quote a student of mine gave me nearly 20 years ago. It was from the Jewish writer Ismar Schorsch. Schorsch speaks of the idea of rest and Sabbath which has structured the dreams and practices of many Jews for centuries: To rest is to acknowledge our limitations, we cease our power to tinker or transform. Willful inactivity is a statement of subservience to a power greater than our own.* This idea seems strange to one, like me, and perhaps you, who's been taught to be a liberal, modern, achievement-oriented person. I'm taught to believe that through abundant energy and constant effort, I can gain all those things in my best interest: things, personal security, opportunity, happy relationships, accomplishment in caring and loving others. I want to believe that in my power...

Here are three excerpts from an article about "new media" that I was recently asked to write for Reflections: A Magazine of Theological and Ethical Inquiry. The question was how we can think about our faith in our "wired" culture. You may find the rest on the Reflections website. From "Connecting With a Theology of Technology": ... A conversation at the ideas festival about education turned to how educators might keep the attention of students in the face of so many distractions in their hyper-mediated world. We spoke of the new normal in the upper middle class: an iPhone in one’s pocket, an iPad in one’s purse, and a laptop in one’s bag, all 
syncing every 15 minutes with Facebook, Twitter, and whatever one calls...

(A much expanded version of this was published as "Christian Anarchy and Reconciliation: A View from the Pulpit" in Reflections, Fall 2007. Thought I'd share some of it here.) “We believe that everyone — political figure or commentator, citizen or alien, man or woman, black or white, conservative or radical — who at this particular time says that this people and this nation are in deep, perhaps irremediable political trouble, speaks the truth.” — Will D. Campbell and James Y. Holloway. Some words come back with haunting relevance. Back in the 1960s, these two southern churchmen, Will Campbell and James Y. Holloway, co-edited the journal of the Committee of Southern Churchmen, called Katallagete: Be Reconciled. A collection of their essays from that journal was published in 1970 under the title, Up To Our Steeples in Politics (Paulist Press). The words above led the essay from which the title of the book was drawn. Wipf and Stock Publishers re-released this book. It’s eerily timely, but not for reasons a quick reading of this lead might have you believe. For these writers go on to unsettle an...

I was at a gathering last week at which there were a variety of folk from various backgrounds, professions, ages, and interests. It wasn't a religious event. The last panel of speakers was called "Last Remarks," for which several of us were asked to give two minute "final thoughts" for life to this mixed and attentive group. This week, I share with you my remarks. "Last Remarks" There is more. There is more than the power and real pride of accomplishment. There is more. There is more than the overwhelming grief that can texture loss. There is more. There is more than anger at injustice, or yearning for healing. There is more than vast multi-layered cosmos that is itself more than what we can imagine. There is more than the smallest proton or the simplest gesture of...

Dear friends, As we enter a new program year, there are both familiar and new faces leading us at Pinnacle. The congregation has received correspondence about our staffing over the summer, but I thought to take my column this month and update you all on who’s doing what these days — at least in the pastoral and program areas of our ministry. So, let’s go in some sort of order! Me: I’m looking forward to a new year of preaching, care, teaching, learning, and leading. I look forward to working with the Session on plans regarding finances, education (see exciting news in September’s Pinnacle Vistas), and improving our communications. I look forward to more time to get to know you all! I also look forward to leading an effort to advance our educational offerings in all areas, and more. Rev. Kristin Willett: Kristin looks forward to concentrating more energy on our growing youth program. Alongside this, she’ll provide pastoral oversight and guidance to all of our...

In my 2005 book, Where the Light Shines Through (Brazos Press), I begin the chapter, "9/12 Living in a 9/11 World," with this memory: In late September of 2001, not long after Sept. 11, the Washington Post ran an article by Hanna Rosen called, “God, You Around?” It was about the noticeable resurgence of both outward religious practice and private prayer in the wake of that September’s events. “It’s not just that the faithful are flocking to houses of worship,” she wrote, “it’s that people who have never been and still won’t go, who passed all those candlelight vigils . . . and kept on walking, are finding themselves, despite themselves, praying.” She quotes the head of a network of counselors working mostly with New York business folk: “‘Every other person we spoke to would get to a point where...