Last week, I was catching up with a family I had not seen much over the summer and the mom mentioned that her girls had lots of big questions to ask me. Oh? What kinds of questions? I asked with just a small amount of apprehension. The oldest daughter was quick to respond...
I did not inherit my grandmother's green thumb. I learned a long time ago that green plants do not live long in my house, and our yard is only maintained by an automatic sprinkler system. So I often read the parable of the sower with a sense of distance and awe. I admire anyone...
A few weeks ago, our preschool and Kindergarten class talked about what it means to be a member of the church and what it feels like to belong. One of their activities was to create laminated membership cards that identified them as children of God and members of God's family. It was...
I spent much of last week at a retreat with clergy colleagues from all over the conference. When we are together, often the first question we have for one another is something hopeful like, “So… things are going well for you at your church?” The repeated nature of...
Advent and Christmas have once again flown by in a flurry of preparation and celebration. I had every intention of slowing down this year, and allowing space for quiet reflection and special family time. While some of that did happen, what I found instead was a season disrupted by...
I've been pretty disgusted by holiday advertising already. The black Friday hoopla is one thing (and pretty out of control, if you ask me), but the Christmas advertising that started early in November has overwhelmingly presented Christmas as a consumer event with one shopper character...
We were talking about the almighty power of God in worship on Sunday so I asked the children, "If you could have a superpower, what would it be?" Of course, their hands went up immediately. I mean, who hasn't thought about this? A second-grade girl was the first to...
We had a great time with pumpkins at The Village on Friday night, and it has started me wondering just why I like the pumpkin part of Halloween so much. I don't really like the gooshy stuff inside the pumpkin, but I really enjoyed carving and decorating pumpkins together. Maybe it's...
It is always amazing to me that when Orchard Supply Hardware has their "We pay the sales tax" weekends, their parking lot is packed from open to close for the whole weekend. Really? The entire South Bay drops everything to save less than 10% on hardware and the like? There is a...
When I started this blog and titled it "Monday Mornings," I had visions of starting each week with a time for reflection on the week past and the week to come. More often, however, I feel like Mondays are the start of an agility and endurance race. The alarm goes off and I hit the...
