Animal Interruptions
Deer and Canada Geese aren’t exactly favorites of the animal world, at least not in urban settings where ecological imbalances enable their proliferation. We’ve lost quite a few young trees and too-many-to-count landscaping plants to deer. Geese have never met a sidewalk they didn’t poop on. But lately I’ve found…
Considering Baptism
I’ve been thinking recently about baptism. But not by myself. This month Lawrence N (this Sunday) and Sarah M (June 21st at the outdoor service at Highbanks) will be baptized, and we’ve been meeting to discuss baptismal vows, scripture, and baptism stories. A couple of those stories have come from…
Apartment News, Designing for Hospitality
For the last half year, we’ve had two guests in our church refuge apartment space – an Algerian woman named Tafsout, and Nafi, a Liberian woman. Both came to the US through legal channels but struggled to get established financially. Ever since Edith Espinal lived in sanctuary in that apartment…
Hope’s Evidence
Jim Wallis, longtime leader of the Sojourners community in Washington, DC, would often write: “Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change.” I was tasked with giving the summary and closing prayer at the end of the BREAD Nehemiah Action last night, and included this…
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…