This past Friday night, a group of us watched the film “Amazing Grace” which is the story of William Wilberforce, his faith, and the fight he led for the abolition of slavery in England. Wilberforce was pulled between the call to the religous life and the call to use his gifts and passion in the [...]
Archive for the ‘community’ Category
Amazing Grace – William Wilberforce
Posted in Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Friendship, Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism, community, tagged Compton Heights Christian Church on May 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Urban Way of the Cross Walk
Posted in Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Contemplative, Open and Affirming Congregation, Spiritual, Urban Church, community, progressive church, tagged Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Compton Heights Christian Church on April 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The Maundy Thursday Tenebrae and Communion is over and now we sleep until Good Friday. I always like our Good Friday Way of the Cross Walk. We started the walk several years ago and it has grown, now including seven congregations of five denominations — Disciples of Christ, Episcopal, Mennonite, Presbyterian and United Church of [...]
Pastor’s Lectionary Study Group
Posted in Friendship, Lectio Divina, Lectionary, Religion, Religious Community, Urban Church, community, tagged Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Compton Heights Christian Church, Religion on March 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Like many pastors, I meet weekly with an ecumenical group of colleagues for lectionary study. This is not the first wonderful group of this kind in my years of ministry; I’ve been fortunate to participate in three of these. This group meets on Tuesday mornings at 8:30, rotating our gatherings between our different church buildings. [...]
Best Actor for “Milk”
Posted in Academy Awards, Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), MILK, Open and Affirming Congregation, Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism, Racism, Reconciliation, Religion, Sex/Sexuality, community on February 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Academy Awards always serve to remind me of the amazing positive contribution films make in our world. I am also reminded of the array of people with a creative passion who are behind these films. Tonight was no different … except that the presentation was spectacular!
In the weeks leading up to this year’s awards, [...]
Autism and Church
Posted in Autism, Church Accessibility, Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Lectionary, Religious Community, community on February 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last night three other members of the congregation and I attended a workshop on Autism. It was done by the Judevine Center on Autism and was a wonderfully helpful evening. With two children in our congregation with Autism Spectrum Disorder, we are coming to realize the very special needs of children with autism and their [...]
Friendship in the Church
Posted in Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Friendship, Religion, Religious Community, Spiritual, community on June 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship in these days. Friendship and ministry. Friends in congregations. In my seminary experience over 26 years ago, there was an emphasis (and often there still is) on maintaining such boundaries that we do not become friends with the people in congregations we serve. The danger of getting too [...]
Where’s the outrage?
Posted in Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism, Racism, Religion, Sacred Spaces, Shooting, St. Louis City, Urban Church, community, gangs on May 31, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Yesterday, I took that bike ride with a woman in the congregation. It was beautiful day and we road 16 miles. It felt good. Today I talked with a colleague about the images of the shooting still in my head. The sense of anger and frustration at not being able to [...]
Pentecost Whirlwind
Posted in Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Pentecost, Spiritual, community, progressive church, tagged Add new tag, Jim Wallis, Soujourners on May 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I have been off-the-blog for about 3 months and have missed it. I even came back to find that the WordPress dashboard has changed so much that I must figure it all out again! It occurs to me that this must be a bit of what it feels like when folks stay away from church [...]
Strangers and “Ashes to Go”
Posted in "Ashes to Go", Ash Wednesday, Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Open and Affirming Congregation, Prayer, Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism, Religion, Religious Community, Sacred Spaces, Spiritual, Urban Church, Worship, community, progressive church on February 7, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Lent has begun with challenge and invitation. On Tuesday night following a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper with neighboring congregations, I headed to the grocery store to pick up some leeks with an eye toward beginning Lent with leek soup. It was pouring down rain. As I walked in the store, there was an older woman [...]
Alternative Giving – True Advent
Posted in Advent, Alternative Giving, Compton Heights Christian Church (DOC), Spiritual, Urban Church, community, progressive church on December 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
It is hard to believe I haven’t written here since mid November. The days approaching and beginning Advent have been so full. For the most part, full has also been good. Good conversations with members of the congregation and some who are new to the community. These have included fun reflections with congregation members on [...]
