Kontakion

Theme Verse: Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God…He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. - Isaiah 40:1; 11 Central Truth: Comfort is at the center of the universe. This is proven by Christ coming and living among us. God gave us comfort than and when Christ returns God will give us comfort. This is not about divine retribution. Connections with our society: Sometimes we forget how removed the history of the bible is from us. Its easy to read passages like this one from Isaiah and reduce the central theme of this scripture, "Comfort, O comfort," to a simple platitude that we mutter to each other when something bad happens. The common way we here this scripture passage today is "God works out all things for those who love the Lord," and the sad thing is that expression is scriptural as well.  Yet we reduce it to a pat on the back that mean little to nothin...

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...

I work all the time, and there is something that I have noticed lately about working while being a pastor, and that is that I don’t feel like I’m working. Just a few months ago, for the provisioner process in the Eastern Pa conference I mapped out all my hours. What I found was that I am averaging 60 hours a week, and right now I know if I took the time to map out my hours again I would find the same average being maintained. There are a couple of reasons I find this fascinating, one is that I have had some really rough weeks, tough conversations, and even tougher situations and more often than not I still want to go to work the next day. Another item that I find fascinating is that I while I may be running around doing things, I find that I still like my job. There has been trying experiences in the past two years, there have been situations I wish I would never have been put in, but I still enjoy doing what I do. I love being able to study scripture, foster community, and engag...

What a rough night. Bible study is normally good, and I guess it was still good tonight. But when I had to say that a child's behavior in the sanctuary was off limits for discussion it became maybe we need a pastor who is more "seasoned." I'm tiered of being told that I'm not old enough, that a congregation is molding me to be what they want. I've resisted molding by two very different schools of thought at VFCC and LTS, and while I am learning from this church, I refuse to be molded into any one set type of pastor other than what God would have me be. And I don't think they liked it...I don't know...

I have decided before I begin to post on United Methodist Doctrine I should layout some ground rules on the nature of these posts. My intent is that the only quotes to be in this writing series will be from the 2004 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (BOD). Whatever I write in comment to the articles is not a reflection of the United Methodist Church (UMC). The statements will be wholly my own. The comments that I will be giving will prayerfully reflect several aspects of my self. My intent is for the comments to reflect my previous convictions, my struggle from the past into where I am currently with the particular doctrine being discussed. The current status of these doctrines within me will reflect a momentary snapshot. Being that I am human that translates to, “some days I have more faith than other day’s.” I intend not to say anything that I will regret but you never know what life will throw at you, hence this disclaimer. I reserve the righ...