Blogs and Articles
To encourage worshipful, generous-hearted living
For the most recent blog or to see articles by dates, look down the list on the right.
Recently I went to an outdoor memorial to celebrate the life of a friend. She had multiple interests and participated in several different groups. Hearing different people speak about her life, I marveled at how she had the gift of cultivating community wherever she went. Sometimes a sense of community develops quickly among people with…
Read MoreIn the bad old days, cowboys used to “break” horses by using pain to force them into accepting a rider and multiple restraints. Some people still do that to horses. But domination does not produce trust, and horses that have been taught through pain will see the rider as a predator and will always want…
Read MoreThe diagnosis of breast cancer came as a shock. It took several weeks before that wore off, and it occasionally returns at new bends in the road. But the cancer was caught very early and after surgery remained at Stage 1. Even so, there’s radiation ahead (gratefully missing out on chemo) and hormone therapy for…
Read MoreWritten for “Live Free,” the 2015 issue of Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, by the Ecumenical Stewardship Center Earth Trek: Celebrating and Sustaining God’s Creation, by Joanne Moyer (Herald Press, 2004), is a multifaceted gem that offers a variety of practices that care for the earth. Based on the seven days of creation…
Read MoreI’m intrigued as I write the chapter on “Growing as Becoming” for my next book, Growing a Generous Soul. People can measure growth in many different ways, but how do you measure growth in faith? Faith is not a static trait or characteristic. Neither is it a set of beliefs, as in faith in someone…
Read MoreWhat a gift it is to be part of a denomination that does not require assent to a single doctrinal statement! I love how John Wesley’s quadrilateral (Scripture, tradition, reason and experience) can work together as each person thinks through his or her personal theology. I talk about it like four tent pegs holding down…
Read MoreMark L. Vincent, lead partner in Design Group International, has continued to offer leaders in our different denominations some outstanding resources for growing generous stewards. One of the latest is “Open Hands Open Hearts,” a private web site for congregations from the Chicago Synod of the ELCA (Evangelical Church of America). It provides some of…
Read MoreThe worship season of “Epiphany” emphasizes the ways God’s being and presence are “manifest” or revealed in our lives. We think particularly of Jesus Christ himself as showing us Who God is. But there are countless other expressions of God, as well, including the Scriptures, all of creation, and evidence of the Holy Spirit’s actions…
Read MoreI was stunned by Carlton Young and Shirley Murray’s song, “Star Child,” in an Advent worship service this month. Hope Publishing Company brought it out in 1994, but this was the first time I’d heard it, from the songbook The Faith We Sing. It calls Jesus “Star-Child, earth-Child, go-between of God.” Then it identifies many…
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