WordPress.com sends out a report on your blog activity for each year and these were the most viewed posts here at the Clockwork Pastor in 2012:
Keep reading Top Five 2012 Posts, Plus One More
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Why We Don’t Really Want an Answer to the Question “Why God?”
"I wonder if our lack of substantive engagement with the problem of evil is due to our tacit realization, which perhaps Brother O’Neil recognizes, that if we did ask God a serious question about why the shooting happened—or why, now, two separate innocents have been pushed in front of NYC subway trains—God might return to us a serious answer:
Don’t look at me."
Keep reading Why We Don’t Really Want an Answer to the Question “Why God?” :
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Saturday, December 29, 2012
Mainline Churches Don’t Give a Rip About Church Planting.
As 2012 draws to a close, I’m taking some time to reflect on the new church ministry in the Christian Church in the Upper Midwest and the hopes for 2013 and church planting in within Mainline Protestantism as a whole.
Earlier this year, I kind of fell into leading a ministry team of people interested in planting and sustaining new faith communities in my Region. In some ways, I don’t know how wise it was to have me leading this, since I’m not a great leader, or at least have some traits that make it difficult to provide visionary leadership. But I have stepped into the role and did the best I could with what I have.
This past year has been both uplifting and frustrating. Uplifting because I see people who are called to plant new church communities accross the Region. Frustrating, because it seems that such work brings shrugs from the larger church.
Keep reading Mainline Churches Don’t Give a Rip About Church Planting. :
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
How A Progressive Christian Pastor Made His Peace With Guns (Kinda Sorta.)
Growing up, I was taught by my mother that guns were not good things. Having come of age in Flint. Michigan that started to see a rise in violent crime in the 1980s, that message was only drilled into me further. The urban environment that I come from taught me one thing: guns were bad, very bad and it was stupid to give people access to handguns, let alone semiautomatics. I guess I was like a lot of mainline/progressive Christians in seeing no real good use for guns in light of all the damage they cause.
Keep reading How A Progressive Christian Pastor Made His Peace With Guns (Kinda Sorta.)
Keep reading How A Progressive Christian Pastor Made His Peace With Guns (Kinda Sorta.)
Gabriel’s Message
One of my favorite Christmas hymns is one I didn’t know until a pop star sang it in the mid-80s.
Keep reading Gabriel’s Message
Keep reading Gabriel’s Message
Friday, December 21, 2012
God Doesn’t Love the One Percent.
I have a mixed relationship with Mary’s Magnificat found in Luke 1. On the one hand it is a wonderful message of justice; that the lowly in life will be vindicated and remembered by God. I love singing the song A Canticle of the Turning by Rory Cooney.
But the text also is bothersome to me. It’s take on the rich and powerful is not one of charity; instead it is a hard justice-one where the rich are sent away empty and the powerful are made low. God of grace and love it isn’t.
God Doesn’t Love the One Percent.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Sermon: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?
It’s Christmastime! It’s the time of the year that we are supposed to be happy and we consider it “the most wonderful time of the year,” as the song goes. We can imagine this manger scene where Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus gather together with all the animals and the shepherds. It’s just a wonderful picture.
But you know, I did something this year. I actually kind of read some of the lectionary texts for Advent and you know what? At least in the Bible, it is NOT the most wonderful time of the year. The first Sunday talks about the second coming of Christ and it wasn’t something to look forward to. Then we have a few Sunday focused on John the Baptist who calls the people who come to be baptized, snakes and tells people to get ready for Jesus, which again doesn’t sound nice.
If we go to Christmas and beyond, we again don’t have the bucolic scenes that so many of us are used to. The Three Wise Men come and visit, giving gifts that fortells the grim future that Jesus would face on the cross. King Herod, who hears about a rival king orders his soldiers to kill all young boys age 2 and under. During the 12 days of Christmas we are faced with this tragedy called the Holy Innocents which is commemorated on December 28.
Sermon: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year? « The Clockwork Pastor:
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I’m Jack’s Banished Dog.
Recently, I wrote a post on how difficult friendships can be for me. I don’t know if I explained it very well, but here’s a taste:
I’m Jack’s Banished Dog. « The Clockwork Pastor:
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I’m Jack’s Banished Dog. « The Clockwork Pastor:
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Sunday, December 16, 2012
Random Musings on a Random Act
The horrific shootings in Newtown, Connecticut has left a lot of people stunned. It wasn’t simply the number of people who died, 27, that has left people speechless, nor was the fact that it took place in a school. What has stunned folks is the fact that this took place in an elementary school and 20 of the victims were between the tender ages of 5 and 9. No wonder President Obama could barely contain his composure when speaking to the nation yesterday.
Random Musings on a Random Act « The Clockwork Pastor:
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Random Musings on a Random Act « The Clockwork Pastor:
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Saturday, December 15, 2012
Stop Making Sense (Again)
I wrote this after the shootings in Arizona in 2011. Somehow it still makes sense after the events of today. Please continue to pray for the family and friends of the victims of the shootings in Connecticut. Lord, have mercy.
Stop Making Sense (Again) « The Clockwork Pastor:
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Stop Making Sense (Again) « The Clockwork Pastor:
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
On Getting With the Program- The Clockwork Pastor
Since I work for the Presbyterians, I spent some time this summer watching the live feed from the 220th General Assembly in Pittsburgh. On the penultimate day of the Assembly there was discussion on allowing ministers to be able to marry same-sex couples. It was not a surprise to see conservatives quoting scripture. In fact, one young delegate opened her Bible on the Assembly floor and started reading a verse. As bothersome as that was, what really bothered me was my own side. I wasn’t bothered that they were advocating for marriage equality, but I was bothered by how they were doing it.
On Getting With the Program- The Clockwork Pastor
On Getting With the Program- The Clockwork Pastor
Monday, December 10, 2012
Sunday, December 09, 2012
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
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