During my sabbatical, I’m not writing new sermons, so on Mondays I am choosing one post from every year of WheretheWind.com to highlight. In October of 2010, the historic chapel at my seminary burned down. I wrote this reflection about my experience in that awkward, beautiful building.
Continue reading “Sabbatical Retrospective, Year 2010: The Pews in the North Transept, A Remembrance”
During my sabbatical, I’m not writing new sermons, so on Mondays I am choosing one post from every year of WheretheWind.com to highlight. In the second year of the website, 2009, I started a short-lived video series. This video (which was modeled after The Colbert Report) eventually found its way to my publisher, which is what prompted them to get in touch with me.
Continue reading “Sabbatical Retrospective, Year 2009: Humor in the Bible”
During my sabbatical, I’m not writing new sermons, so on Mondays* I am choosing one post from every year of WheretheWind.com to highlight. The first year of the website, 2008, saw me experimenting quite a bit with what I would put on the site. Very few folks read my stuff back then, but over the years, the following post has been one of my most viewed ever. (*Posting this on Tuesday because a sick kid at home caused me to miss posting yesterday.)
Continue reading “Sabbatical Retrospective, Year 2008: Pick your periscope (Bible study #2)”
As I prepare to head off on sabbatical tomorrow, I’d like to use our sermon time today to talk about what I’m going to be doing and why. Ever since joining with a group of other local clergy two years ago to learn about faith-based community organizing, I have grown increasingly fascinated with storytelling. This may sound strange because I’ve been writing novels for a dozen years. But for some reason I’ve never linked being a writer with being a storyteller. I think this is because writing novels is a solitary experience, while storytelling happens in community. Faith-based community organizing coalesces around the stories people tell about themselves and their communities, their struggles and successes, their hopes and dreams and nightmares. These stories become the building blocks for specific justice-oriented actions that seek to improve the lives of everyone in the community.
Continue reading “The Stories We Tell”
Where the Wind... 