On Sunday you might have noticed the new sidewalk leading up to the main doors of the sanctuary. This is part of the larger restoration project that will include new doors in the near future. A big thanks goes to Bill Kirkman and the rest of the Property and Finance team for working so hard…

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sell all your stuff then pack your clothes and go live in a foreign country? Just because God told you too! God asks people to do some ridiculously uncomfortable things. Let’s see, God asked Noah to build a stupendously BIG Ark, God asked Jonah to prophesy…

On Sunday, I mentioned a growing movement in Japan called “future visionary design.” This planning process asks residents to imagine themselves as residents of their town or city sixty years in the future and draw up plans for their city with that mindset. The plans produced by groups that engaged in this future visionary design process…

In Thirst: Poems by Mary Oliver, we find one of Oliver’s most well-known poems—a reflection on prayer. As always, she has a way of capturing the truth in such a succinct and beautiful way. It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay…

Above is a link to the video that was our Musical Meditation on Sunday. I came across this song several weeks ago when the great poet and essayist Parker Palmer posted it to promote Carrie Newcomer’s new album Until Now, that comes out today. According to her website, this album “explores the process of unraveling…

Coming from a blue collar family, I know outsourcing can be a bad word when it means the loss of American jobs to other countries with unjust labor costs. That’s not how I’m using here. At its most basic level, outsourcing is about shifting the responsibility of some part of a process from one entity to another.…

Earlier this week, I was basking/sweating in the sun at Wheaton College’s annual Church Fair. This is when the college invites local churches to come and help students start to find a church home while they’re at college. I had some really nice conversations with a few students, but there was one moment in particular that stuck…

Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of my ordination. On August 11, 2013 surrounded by friends, family, and colleagues, I was ordained by the First Baptist Church of Chicago in Hyde Park. The picture above is of me receiving the charge to the ordinate candidate. I’m wearing the robe my parents bought for me as a graduation…

This is another Olympics post. As I said last week, I haven’t watched a whole lot of the Olympics, but a few stories have come across my newsfeed. Last week I was struck by Simone Biles’ experience of the dangerous and heartbreaking “Twisties.” This week I was charmed by the darling and heartwarming story of Tom Daley’s case of…

I haven’t been watching much of the Olympics, but it was hard to miss the news about Simone Biles withdrawing from the gymnastic competition this week. Social media was ablaze with both support and condemnation of her decision to take a step back after a shaky performance on the vault. While the cause wasn’t a physical injury,…