Three years ago on a Saturday afternoon in Advent I was frantically rewriting the beginning of my sermon for the next morning. The day before a gunman had entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 children and six adults. This Advent pastors are drafting sermons after another massacre. And many will try to address…
Category: Ministry
Should Pastors Shovel Snow?
As we head into winter, that means I’ll be shoveling snow and monitoring the heating systems at the church. Does it shock you to read that as a pastor I do that kind of work around the church? Many of us were taught that such tasks were not our jobs. I can remember a professor telling us…
Starbucks, Red Cups, and the Grace of Being Offended
While the Christian right and the left are hashing it out over Twitter, arguing about the merits and demerits of Starbucks’s new inclusive red cups, I want to press pause to ask the question: Is there anything this episode can teach us about the Christian spiritual life? The answer, I believe, is yes. We can…