2008

Jun

The Courant seems to love stories like...
Jun 24th
If now, then also later…
Jun 19th

May

Slowed down...

My blogging has slowed down since I returned from General Conference. To all my many fans:...
May 20th

Membership in RCRC Affirmed (barely)

A last day controversial issue was our membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive...
May 2nd

Winding down....

Well, things are winding down here at GC 2008. I must say that I have not paid as much attention to...
May 2nd
Bishops Huie (past president of the Council of Bishops) and...
May 2nd
Metholebrities #3,4,5: Steve Bauman, Clayton Miller, Kent...
May 2nd
Metholebrity #2: Mike DuBose. Chances are good you’ve...
May 2nd
“The church today has become known not for its pursuit of...”
— From Adam Hamilton’s...
May 2nd
Homosexuality Witness
May 1st

Online Video Down During Witness

Those of you watching the video stream online may have noticed that the stream was down during the...
May 1st

A witness....

This morning, a powerful witness was offered, calling for justice and inclusion of all God’s...
May 1st

Waking up today...

This morning I woke up with anger and despair in my heart. I thought to myself: Those bastards! Who...
May 1st
“The UMC is not a church. It is a system. While Reconciling...”
— From the Official Blog of the...
May 1st

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...
May 1st

Apr

Language on Sexuality in Paragraph 161

was hardened.  Eventually, the church will become completely irrelevant. More later. 
Apr 30th

Committed Unions Defeated...

By a vote of  298 to 574 we rejected a petition to support committed unions, regardless of the...
Apr 30th
There is a display from Eyes Wide Open outside the...
Apr 30th
Today, we expect to vote on most of the issues related to...
Apr 30th

Casting a Vision

The first week here (which is now a distant memory) was largely spent casting a vision for our...
Apr 29th
Metholebrity #1: I cornered Adam Hamilton today when he...
Apr 28th

General Conference 101

I wrote this mainly for my local church blog, since many of my members have no idea what General...
Apr 26th

This one will make the rounds today....

This news story broke last night detailing efforts by a conservative coalition to provide cell...
Apr 26th

World Malaria Day

Today is World Malaria Day. Bishop Thomas Bickerton just announced a grant of $5 million from the...
Apr 25th
There are three reasons I love Tonga: 1. It’s the only...
Apr 24th
Official General Conference Photos
Apr 24th

Getting busy today

So I haven’t had a chance to update much. I will try to grab some time tonight. Opening...
Apr 24th

Getting Started...

General Conference is getting started today. For some reason, the conference seems a little more low...
Apr 23rd
Some delegates arrived early, and started checking...
Apr 23rd
I stumbled into the main plenary room, where the delegates...
Apr 23rd
The Convention Center is just down the road from my hotel!...
Apr 23rd

Arriving in Fort Worth

Yesterday, American Airlines cancelled my flight from Hartford to DFW. They put me on the 6:00 a.m....
Apr 23rd
“Would you rather just sit there and cower underneath a desk...”
— The kind of logic that...
Apr 15th

Teens and Suicide

I grew up in a Houston suburb, not unlike West Hartford. I remember the years from 12 to 15 as very...
Apr 15th
West Hartford Staggered By 2 Teen Suicides
Apr 14th

What racism means to me...

I have struggled to understand racism and how it has affected me and my life. A mind-shifting...
Apr 4th
“He was normal as a person could be. I really want people to...”
— Christine King Farris on her...
Apr 3rd
Where were you?
Apr 3rd

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...
Mar 29th

Recovering.

Easter is quite a ride for pastors. But then, so is the week after Easter. This year, I had to...
Mar 27th
“Men go to God when they are sore bestead, Pray to him for...”
— Christians and Pagans by...
Mar 20th
“Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains....”
— Cormac McCarthy in The Road
Mar 19th
Warch Watch
This doesn’t suck.
Mar 17th
“Jesus asked in Gethsemane, ‘Could you not watch with me one...”
— Bonhoeffer...
Mar 17th

Defending Spitzer?

I received a couple of emails from left-leaning friends who have concluded that Elliot Spitzer is...
Mar 12th
thinking the glass is half-full today.
Mar 12th
Warch Watch
It is past time for the church to stand up and clearly denounce this kind of hateful and cruel...
Mar 10th

Vegans = Witches

I almost thought this was real.
Mar 4th

Veganism?

My belief in the goodness of God’s creation and in the wonder of life has often inspired me to...
Mar 1st

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...
Feb 28th

Element X

Watching the debate last night with my “new friends” here in Hartford, I started to...
Feb 27th
Not a flattering pic of me. Don’t read into this. All...
Feb 25th
“He thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and...”
— Barack Obama on Ralph Nader
Feb 25th

Here we go...

I had a conference call to prepare for General Conference 2008. Now, the contents of this call are...
Feb 23rd
Warch Watch
This lecture goes back to 2004, but it’s a good talk on Bonhoeffer. And Hauerwas is always...
Feb 21st

Falling in love....

Rohr’s quote has been haunting me this week. In our culture, falling in love feels like a...
Feb 20th
“Somewhere each day we have to fall in love with someone,...”
— Richard Rohr, quoted over...
Feb 19th
Warch Watch
Feb 18th

State of the Church

Yesterday was my church’s Annual Meeting and Charge Conference.  I’ve been a bit snowed...
Feb 18th
Something to think about.  From Indexed.
Feb 9th

Ashes

I never did ashes growing up. I was Southern Baptist, and we weren’t all that interested in...
Feb 6th
“O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell in your...”
— Psalm 15 (at the start of Lent...
Feb 6th
Warch Watch
To celebrate the return of my internet connection, check out this “dynamic art...
Feb 2nd

Maybe it was my old router...

So I messed around with my internet connection all weekend, and finally got it to work. The only...
Feb 2nd
“So when someone says that Scripture, contrary to the way...”
— William H. Willoman
Feb 1st

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...
Feb 1st

Internet is out....

Don’t know what happened, but my internet service (Comcast!) has gone out. At first they told...
Feb 1st

Jan

Is the Tipping Point bunk?
Jan 30th
Warch Watch
How awesome is that! From the General Conference Delegate Information DVD.
Jan 30th

A new social creed

One of the issues at General Conference this year will be the adoption (or not) of a new social...
Jan 30th

Pre-General Conference

A few months before General Conference, a “Pre-General Conference Briefing” is held at...
Jan 30th

Two Spaces or One?

I taught myself how to type when I was a kid. I was mesmerized by computers, and my dad finally...
Jan 30th
“The view at CMOS is that there is no reason for two spaces...”
— Chicago Manual of Style...
Jan 30th

Ministry as drudgery.

If we clergy are honest, ministry is sometimes drudgery. Some people seem to think that the lives...
Jan 30th

My new best friend...

I recently got a new MacBook. I had been waiting for the MacBook Air.  And when I saywaiting, I...
Jan 29th

The Ministry Study

This year, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will meet in Fort Worth, Texas....
Jan 29th
Warch Watch
A little dramatic, but makes some good points.  From NRCT.
Jan 28th
“Forgive yourself for making unrealistic goals. Forgive...”
— Joel Johnson at 43 Folders
Jan 28th

No country.

Once out of nature I shall never takeMy bodily form from any natural thing,But such a form as...
Jan 27th

tumblr.

Just what I need. Another way to blog. This is just great. 
Jan 27th