My friend Susan, a priest at All Saints, says that she is never disillusioned by the church. That’s because she has no illusions about the church. Whatever else the church is, it’s a fallible human community like all others. How…
Read MoreAt my first assignment as a United Methodist pastor out in California’s Upper Mojave Desert, I served two congregations. One of them, the one in Randsburg, I was supposed to close after the church had received a bequest left it…
Read MoreWhen we lived on Green Street, I had a five-mile walking course laid out that took me up to Foothill then back down Towne to home. I would often do this route after dark. One evening as I was heading…
Read MoreWhen I was a callow youth, my sights were pretty low. I thought that I would have made it if I had a 57 Chevy – you know the one, with the fins and all that chrome. That and a…
Read MoreIn most dysfunctional families, various members fill different functions. There is the identified “problem,” the drama revolves around. A supportive cast is the enablers, the deniers, a co-addict, maybe a family clown, and if fortunate for all, a realist. I…
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