I Remember Too

February 24, 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Earlier this week, I shared about Ash Wednesday, a year ago…some time I spent by the Roberts Forest fire pit, praying, crying, playing guitar. What I didn’t say then was that a song, in honor of my Mom, poured out of me that night. The whole thing took shape in about 20 minutes. I pulled […]

Ash Wednesday

February 23, 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

A year ago Ash Wednesday… It is about this time of night(1) I have not come home from church, but instead I am sitting alone in Roberts Forest at KPUMC. The fire pit is dying down. (This is an actual picture….) I’m praying a lot. I’m playing guitar. And I’m doing some pretty intense crying. […]

Jimmy Carter Christianity

February 20, 2023.Reading time 24 minutes.

Whether or not you are a Christian, if you’re looking for the kind of human I believe best exemplifies my Christian faith, look no further than Jimmy Carter. If you are increasingly convinced there is no such this as a “good and decent” form of Christianity, I would simply invite you to consider Jimmy Carter’s […]

The God’s Honest Truth About “Revival”

February 16, 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.

It’s likely that mainline United Methodists are only vaguely aware of the “revival” happening at United Methodist-adjacent Asbury College. But it’s an event that evangelicals across denominational lines can’t stop talking about, and so I’ll jump in a bit today. Let me start with my primary ending point: If “revivals” are not a part of […]

Suspended in Air, Without a Net

February 13, 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

As I watched Rihanna perform her remarkable Halftime show yesterday —pregnant and suspended alone in mid air— my thoughts immediately went to both the new HULU 1619 Documentary, and also a sobering study reported on by the New York Times, out Sunday morning. I hope you saw them both. As I said over the weekend, […]

Jim Finley (CB)

February 9, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Joe Biden Coulda Done That All Night

February 9, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

Congressional Republicans: Decades ago, Joe Biden told you he was a fighter from Scranton.If you paid attention at all, you knew this. McCarthy warned you not to heckle, but you did anyway; and “Sleepy Joe” Jedi mind-tricked you into applauding Social Security protection. People have misunderestimated Joe for forty years.Keep it going if you want. […]

Cody McMahan

January 30, 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Cody McMahan died Saturday. I had the privilege of knowing Cody for perhaps 15-20 years….I believe I’ve lost count. I believe I first met him when Cody was still a member of Greenland Hills UMC. He later joined Northaven, and still later started dating and eventually married Mike House. One of the high honors of […]

Thomas a Kempis (Credo-bytes)

January 25, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

UMC Update

January 20, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

Kessler Park Friends: It’s been some time since I’ve updated you on the ongoing “split” in the United Methodist Church. I’ve been trying very hard not to “over-share” the play-by-play of almost daily developments, because it seems to me this could get exhausting. Further, as a part of my own spiritual discipline, I’ve been trying […]