2008

Jun

The Courant seems to love stories like...

If now, then also later…

May

Slowed down...

My blogging has slowed down since I returned from General Conference. To all my many fans:...

Membership in RCRC Affirmed (barely)

A last day controversial issue was our membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive...

Winding down....

Well, things are winding down here at GC 2008. I must say that I have not paid as much attention to...

Bishops Huie (past president of the Council of Bishops) and...

Metholebrities #3,4,5: Steve Bauman, Clayton Miller, Kent...

Metholebrity #2: Mike DuBose. Chances are good you’ve...

“The church today has become known not for its pursuit of...”
— From Adam Hamilton’s...

Homosexuality Witness

Online Video Down During Witness

Those of you watching the video stream online may have noticed that the stream was down during the...

A witness....

This morning, a powerful witness was offered, calling for justice and inclusion of all God’s...

Waking up today...

This morning I woke up with anger and despair in my heart. I thought to myself: Those bastards! Who...

“The UMC is not a church. It is a system. While Reconciling...”
— From the Official Blog of the...

Sexuality in Paragraph 161.G

I think this is the text of the changes, more or less as it was adopted. There were a few minor...

Apr

Language on Sexuality in Paragraph 161

was hardened. Eventually, the church will become completely irrelevant. More later.

Committed Unions Defeated...

By a vote of 298 to 574 we rejected a petition to support committed unions, regardless of the...

There is a display from Eyes Wide Open outside the...

Today, we expect to vote on most of the issues related to...

Casting a Vision

The first week here (which is now a distant memory) was largely spent casting a vision for our...

Metholebrity #1: I cornered Adam Hamilton today when he...

General Conference 101

I wrote this mainly for my local church blog, since many of my members have no idea what General...

This one will make the rounds today....

This news story broke last night detailing efforts by a conservative coalition to provide cell...

World Malaria Day

Today is World Malaria Day. Bishop Thomas Bickerton just announced a grant of $5 million from the...

There are three reasons I love Tonga: 1. It’s the only...

Official General Conference Photos

Getting busy today

So I haven’t had a chance to update much. I will try to grab some time tonight. Opening...

Getting Started...

General Conference is getting started today. For some reason, the conference seems a little more low...

Some delegates arrived early, and started checking...

I stumbled into the main plenary room, where the delegates...

The Convention Center is just down the road from my hotel!...

Arriving in Fort Worth

Yesterday, American Airlines cancelled my flight from Hartford to DFW. They put me on the 6:00 a.m....

“Would you rather just sit there and cower underneath a desk...”
— The kind of logic that...

Teens and Suicide

I grew up in a Houston suburb, not unlike West Hartford. I remember the years from 12 to 15 as very...

West Hartford Staggered By 2 Teen Suicides

What racism means to me...

I have struggled to understand racism and how it has affected me and my life. A mind-shifting...

“He was normal as a person could be. I really want people to...”
— Christine King Farris on her...

Where were you?

Mar

Why do I believe in a personal God?

I’ve been having some interesting reflection on this whole idea of a personal God, and...

Recovering.

Easter is quite a ride for pastors. But then, so is the week after Easter. This year, I had to...

“Men go to God when they are sore bestead, Pray to him for...”
— Christians and Pagans by...

“Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains....”
— Cormac McCarthy in The Road

This doesn’t suck.

“Jesus asked in Gethsemane, ‘Could you not watch with me one...”
— Bonhoeffer...

Defending Spitzer?

I received a couple of emails from left-leaning friends who have concluded that Elliot Spitzer is...

thinking the glass is half-full today.

It is past time for the church to stand up and clearly denounce this kind of hateful and cruel...

Vegans = Witches

I almost thought this was real.

Veganism?

My belief in the goodness of God’s creation and in the wonder of life has often inspired me to...

Feb

The Battle of the Bulge

Today, I got on the scale and it said: 199 That puts me under 200 pounds for the first time in a...

Element X

Watching the debate last night with my “new friends” here in Hartford, I started to...

Not a flattering pic of me. Don’t read into this. All...

“He thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and...”
— Barack Obama on Ralph Nader

Here we go...

I had a conference call to prepare for General Conference 2008. Now, the contents of this call are...

This lecture goes back to 2004, but it’s a good talk on Bonhoeffer. And Hauerwas is always...

Falling in love....

Rohr’s quote has been haunting me this week. In our culture, falling in love feels like a...

“Somewhere each day we have to fall in love with someone,...”
— Richard Rohr, quoted over...

State of the Church

Yesterday was my church’s Annual Meeting and Charge Conference. I’ve been a bit snowed...

Something to think about. From Indexed.

Ashes

I never did ashes growing up. I was Southern Baptist, and we weren’t all that interested in...

“O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell in your...”
— Psalm 15 (at the start of Lent...

To celebrate the return of my internet connection, check out this “dynamic art...

Maybe it was my old router...

So I messed around with my internet connection all weekend, and finally got it to work. The only...

“So when someone says that Scripture, contrary to the way...”
— William H. Willoman

A book I'll never write

Since I got my new MacBook I cleaned off the hard-drive of my old lap top and discovered some...

Internet is out....

Don’t know what happened, but my internet service (Comcast!) has gone out. At first they told...

Jan

Is the Tipping Point bunk?

How awesome is that! From the General Conference Delegate Information DVD.

A new social creed

One of the issues at General Conference this year will be the adoption (or not) of a new social...

Pre-General Conference

A few months before General Conference, a “Pre-General Conference Briefing” is held at...

Two Spaces or One?

I taught myself how to type when I was a kid. I was mesmerized by computers, and my dad finally...

“The view at CMOS is that there is no reason for two spaces...”
— Chicago Manual of Style...

Ministry as drudgery.

If we clergy are honest, ministry is sometimes drudgery. Some people seem to think that the lives...

My new best friend...

I recently got a new MacBook. I had been waiting for the MacBook Air. And when I saywaiting, I...

The Ministry Study

This year, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will meet in Fort Worth, Texas....

A little dramatic, but makes some good points. From NRCT.

“Forgive yourself for making unrealistic goals. Forgive...”
— Joel Johnson at 43 Folders

No country.

Once out of nature I shall never takeMy bodily form from any natural thing,But such a form as...

tumblr.

Just what I need. Another way to blog. This is just great.