Sabbatical Ponderings
My upcoming sabbatical is quickly approaching, and so one of the main questions I plan to explore is at the top of my mind: How do we pass along the core teachings of our faith and tradition? As the “Pastor of Christian Formation” this question lies at the heart of…
Membership Toward A Center / VOTE! Nonpolice Crisis Response
This week’s blog is a twofer. 1. Membership toward a center Article V of our church constitution discusses membership (now I know I have your eager attention). Section A includes this sentence: “We choose to focus on a center that draws us in rather than sharply defining and defending a…
Earth Day Beauty
Today is Earth Day. This is a strange thing to say for those of us utterly dependent every minute of our lives on the cooperative systems and generative cycles of this, our only home in the cosmos. But we forget. In our relatively new-found powers of industry we relate with…
Sabbatical Rhythms
Word is starting to get around that this summer I’ll be taking some time away from normal rhythms of church work and life for another sabbatical, so I wanted to share a bit about what I’ll be working on and why it feels important. At the heart of this sabbatical…
Lent 2026 – Composting Faith
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Our theme this season is “Composting Faith.” That could refer to the act of faith one undertakes through composting – trusting unseen forces to turn debris into soil. And, faith itself can be the thing we’re composting – letting worn out…
A Morning at the ICE Office
This morning nine of us from CMC joined 25 others at the ICE office in Westerville in support of M. During the years E lived in sanctuary in our building, M lived in First English Lutheran Church near downtown. She has two teenage daughters, both US citizens, one of whom…
Ashes to Ashes, Soil to Soil
The season of Lent is almost upon us, and this year our worship theme will center around the idea of composting. There is a lot of overlap between the art of composting and the themes of Lent. There are cycles of death/decay and regrowth/new life. There are the necessary but…
Anabaptism at 501 -OR- Coarse Mennonites Unite
Last year we celebrated the 500-year anniversary of the Anabaptist movement. Now we’ve cycled again past that January 21st date marking those first adult baptisms. So here we are: Anabaptism at 501. I’ve been reading a bit in Anabaptists: From the Reformation to the 21st Century by German historian Astrid…
Progress, or Not
I’ve been thinking some about progress. It’s hard not to when you have a medical emergency and receive a highly technical surgery that likely sets you on a path toward full recovery. It’s not hard to imagine a different life trajectory – or rapid decline – had the same physical…
Pain as a Doorway
“Pain,” writes David Whyte, “is the doorway to the here and now.”* My doorway coincided with the opening of 2026. I woke up New Year’s Day with a sharp pain running down the top of my left side, neck to wrist. We were with Abbie’s family in Quinter, Kansas and…