We’re calling it “Unplugged,” but week one felt more like “Unhinged” to me.  It seemed like a good idea when we first thought of it…to move out of the sanctuary into a smaller, more informal room for a few weeks of Sunday worship this summer, but I confess I’m having a little bit of trouble adjusting. The original thought was that it’s never a bad idea to mix things up, try something… Read More

Calvary Unplugged: What Is the Church? As many of you know, I am not so interested in sports.  That’s probably the biggest understatement of the morning.  So it may seem strange to you that I want to begin this morning talking about sports.  To my credit, I do live with a few individuals who eat, sleep, and breathe sports, so I know a little bit.  And while I think in general it’s… Read More

I have written about this before, but a few thoughts to begin today:  I have this thing with words.  They sometimes lodge themselves in my brain and won’t leave until I write them down.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m all-consumed by the ideas the words represent; it just means there are some thoughts floating around, asking to be expressed.   For example, I was distracted this morning with the image of darkness, or… Read More

One of the best parts of international travel is the way it can submerge you in a context totally different from your own, an experience that is usually really uncomfortable but offers some great perspective if you let it. Among my recent adventures in Southeast Asia I had the opportunity to visit the country of Cambodia.  There are oh-so-many things I could write about that experience; my visit to Cambodia was definitely… Read More

Since I work in Chinatown, D.C., it only seemed right to pay a visit to a sister Chinatown…in Kuala Lumpur.  Lonely Planet says that Chinatown, KL is best experienced after dark, so I took their advice and set out on an adventure last night.  First order of business: taking the KL monorail two stops.  It really was like riding at Disneyland…quiet, clean, air-conditioned.  Impressive. After exiting the monorail stop we made our… Read More

Note to self: North America is not the center of the universe. I would like to think that I am a person who knows this and lives a life that reflects that knowledge, but it seems it only takes one Baptist World Alliance meeting to remind one of how limited her worldview truly is. Last night Malaysian Baptists hosted a dinner at the annual meeting of the Baptist World Alliance.  I confess… Read More

Southeast Asia, I think I might love you. The Baptist World Alliance is meeting this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  It’s one of those big meetings in a downtown hotel where you could be insulated from the world around you.  But who wants to come to Kuala Lumpur and stay in the hotel?  No, thanks. This morning was the first morning of meetings and, after attending morning worship and the “First timers… Read More

I can’t exactly verify this fact since the window next to my seat is black as ink at the moment, but the in-flight navigation system insists we are currently cruising over the Bay of Bengal. The Bay of Bengal?  Seventh grade geography class, anyone? All night long, in fact I’ve watched our progress flying over parts of the world I’ve never even been near: Russia, Turkey, Afghanistan, India, Nepal….  It’s kind of… Read More