The Daily Show has run a story on the Obamas’ church decision: Obama’s New Church Honestly? I feel like we dodged a bullet. Many of you know we discussed at length the opportunity to be interviewed on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.  Thanks to those of you offered your wise (and not so wise) input; in the end we decided it was probably best not to take Mr. Stewart’s kind offer. Today I am thanking… Read More

Last week as we were lined up at the door to The National Cathedral the security people there instructed us to please turn on all our telephones before entering.   This is apparently to make sure that what we claim to be cell phones are really cell phones and not some other nefarious gadget.   As I handed mine over to the secret service agent I heard the man behind me comment,… Read More

Thanks to my kind friend Terry Lynch at the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, I had the great opportunity to attend the inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral this morning.  I can’t really describe the experience . . . it didn’t feel quite like a worship service, as everywhere you turned there was one famous person or another.  The crowd was very small and VIPs all around, but it seemed a fitting recognition,… Read More

Today somebody challenged my opinion on a controversial issue; strangely, the challenge rocked my world a little.  The experience was all very curious . . . after all, I am one who feels very well at home with all kinds of different opinions floating around; the discomfort of diversity is something I relish. My very wise spiritual director always tells me to step away and look at things, just to sit with… Read More

My do  ate my keyboard. I’m not kiddin . I always thou ht that was kind o  a  i ure o  speech, not an actual occurrence.  But, alas, I  ot up  rom the couch to answer a telephone call and when I returned two letters on my keyboard-two letters ri ht in the middle o  my keyboard, no less, have been . . . well, chewed o  . As my dissertation is… Read More

Can you?  I remember that you really can’t when you’re 13, but I’m talking here about the parent side of things. So far I’ve been crossing my fingers and kind of watching helplessly as it all unfolds around me, but I realized the other day that I keep waiting for some terrible other shoe to drop. Of course I recognize that much of that perspective comes from the memory of the avocado green copies… Read More

I don’t know what else to call this post.  Taken on Christmas Eve at our worship service, this picture of Calvary members depicting the nativity is everything I love about Calvary Baptist Church.  In this place everybody’s differences are what, together, make the most beautiful expressions of God’s great love for the world. Thanks, my Calvary family, for always reminding me.