We had an all too familiar conversation the other day in our coffee shop. The manager, who we’d developed a relationship with, shared the exciting news that she was moving on to a bigger a brighter opportunity. Who could argue with that? Let me clarify though, it was exciting news for her, but it was … More Nothing stays the same, but its worth it
I’ve been a practitioner of pastoral arts for so long I practically don’t remember what I did before. Interesting since it wasn’t anywhere on my “to do” list when I was working on Navy sonar systems for a fortune 500 country back before the dawn of time … or at least smart phones and PC’s … More “It’s Complicated” … but not for long
So I’m sitting in a coffee shop, located in Powells bookstore, on Hawthorne in Southeast Portland watching a barista concoct a soy chai latte… for those of you unaware, you don’t get much more authentically Portland than that. Certainly not everyone would agree with me on this, but do you have any idea what it’s … More Sometimes it’s just a pig
It’s been two years since we made the emotional decision to close out a four year journey with our downtown faith community known as Common Table. A number of times these past few years I have been asked to do a “post mortum” of sorts. To be fair, no one has ever been insensitive enough … More moments of grace
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” This encouragement opens up the 12th chapter of Romans in Eugene Petersons translation known as “The Message”. The New International Version identifies this as “your true … More Turning obstacle into opportunity … Reclaiming the “verbness” of church
Venturing into the practical side of things, I’d like to suggest that a significant obstacle to moving the church out of the building is one of posture. My training in the pastoral arts leaned heavily on creating an illusion of all knowing. Like the wizard behind the curtain, we were expected to have every answer … More reclaiming the “verbness” of church pt. 2
Last night, sitting with a new group whose journey we’ve joined here in the city, we were encouraged by a fellow urban practitioner concerning the necessity of a posture of prayer when looking to join in where God is already at work. If you’ve read anything that I’ve posted you could imagine I resonated with … More The Sacred in our Streets part 2
