Living In God’s Amazing Grace
The best thing about being a pastor is the conversations! Sometimes they happen in the grocery store when I am wearing my clerical collar. Sometimes they happen in the hospital next to the bed of person who struggles. Sometimes they happen online.
And as today is Ash Wednesday, conversations about dust have come to occur. In Christian circles, this is the day we remember our mortality. 
Continue reading “The stars died so that you could be here today.”
I’ve been recuperating from my total knee replacement which took place on February 13th. There have been surprises – 1) how slowly my energy level is returning 2) the pervasiveness of pain (!) and 3) how restorative greetings can be. Continue reading “Greetings of Care”
We are blessed people. Today our lives hit a wrinkle (Pastor Joe and Pastor Patricia). We made a choice to go on a continuing Education adventure to see the Holy Land! And, we are presently stuck in Istanbul on a 7 hour delay. Well, darn. But we have food, and water, and wifi (!) so maybe we should suck it up and make the best of it.
But today I write to my friends out there enduring change, and worry, and also, imagining new things, and dreaming of possibilities for ministry. Because the Annual Meeting is at hand, and I will miss it!
This is us is back on tv. Its a show about a family of triplets – yes it is a LONG story. But in this week’s episode, Randall, who is the voice of morality, the voice of his father (both of them) the voice of vision, spoke to a pastor in a diner.
The pastor said this – “I give a lot of deathbed advice.” And then he said, (ok I didn’t take it all down word for word), “when you make a hard decision, think about you, old and gray, laying with a pink nursing home blanket over you. Think about what you did in your life that makes you smile. That makes your dad proud.” Well, yes. Continue reading “Deathbed advice”
You never know what people are going to say – This week I was in a doctor’s office (nice guy) and mentioned I was going to travel to Israel next week. He immediately told me, “My son went to Israel and was able to be baptized in the Jordan”. He was thrilled, clearly to share that with me, and I had many questions, but kept them to myself. “How wonderful” I replied. And the doctor wished me a blessed trip. Continue reading “Baptized in the Jordan”