Kontakion

Max* had been a church member for a long time as a member of the "greatest generation," he had fought in World War II in the air force. Max had shared with me many stories about his experience in B-29 Bombers, Bombers with the name and reputation of being a "Superfortress," though there was nothing fortress like about them. Max had lived a full eighty years, a full and plentiful eighty years. He had a loving wife, dutiful daughters, and wonderful grandchildren. He was a person in the church who, unlike the B-29 Bombers he talked about, was a fortress that enabled young and old to take comfort in the refuge of his faith and strength of his character. He was father, friend, and grandfather to more people than just his genetic family. Four weeks ago, I went to visit Max at home. Max had been experiencing declining health in the last six months. Due to the health issues, he hadn't been able to attend church to receive communion with the community for far too...

It's taken me some time to finally decide to share what went on in my Board of Ordained Ministries (BOM) interview back in February. I want to make something very clear first, there were valid concerns that BOM raised, and I have no doubt that many of the individuals in that committee do care about me and my ministry, yet in my opinion there are some other forces that were at work in the interview as well. There were a number of questions in the interview that, looking back, I deem to be unfair either in the way they were spoken or in the subsequent clarification for the question. One particular question that bothered me was intended to be theological in nature, but was asked as a ministry related question. For instance (this is not the question) if someone comes to you and confesses they are cheating on their wife, what do you do? In my answer would be, while I disagree with what the individual is doing, I would try to affirm that everyone makes mistakes and even when we make...