Why I Like Lillian Daniel.

I really like Lillian Daniel.  Really.

Why, you ask?  Because in 2011 she said something that many mainline Christians have been thinking, but were too afraid to say outloud.   In 2011 Daniel wrote an article with the very provocative title:“Spiritual, But Not Religious?  Please Stop Boring Me.”  If you think this was a rant, well, you’re right.  Daniel basically tore into those folks that have been called “Spiritual But Not Religious” or SBNR.  The article went viral and it’s easy to see why.

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Love In the Time of the Zombie Apocalypse

I just finished reading Warm Bodies, the zombie novel by Issac Marion.  A movie based on the book will open in theatres on February 1.

I have to say I enjoyed the novel, which is saying a lot because I don’t usually like to read zombie novels or watch zombie movies or TV.  I’m probably totally uncool because I haven’t the seen the zombie apocalypse series, The Walking Dead.

Why?  It’s pretty simple: zombie media tends to be so hopeless.  

Keep Reading Love In the Time of the Zombie Apocalypse

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The Civic Church

What is the role of the church in a society?

That’s the question that I’ve been trying to answer for a few years.  I think blogger Michael Kruse came up with the best answer.  Before I get to Michael’s quote, let’s look at opinion piece by David Brooks that Kruse comments on.
Keep Reading The Civic Church

Lectionary Sermons: “Called. Gathered. Sent.”

From 2010.

“Called. Gathered. Sent.”
John 2:1-11, I Corinthians 12:1-11
January 17, 2010
First Christian Church
Minneapolis, MN

I’ve come to realize that as you reach a certain age, you start to look back at an earlier point in your life more and more.  A friend of mine who turned 40 last year commented that he has basically stopped watching what is on television currently and with the wonders of Hulu.com, he has taken to watching television shows of the 70s and 80s.  For my friend, he loves watching these shows because it is a wonderful memory of an earlier time.

I can understand what my friend is talking about.  I love watching the old commercials of my childhood at YouTube.  Marketers have noticed that people are interested in nostalgia and have come up with special editions of products that are packaged like they were in the 1960s or 70s.  A few weeks ago, I was shopping at Target and happened to notice that Pepsi was packaging its usual pop in the look and logo of the early 1970s.  For me, I was immediately catapulted to that time when I was a little kid and was at a picnic where everyone was gathered and drinking Pepsi in the this same style.

I’ve seen other products do this like cereals and other soft drinks.  Of course, it’s a way to get people to buy the product, but they also know that it hits on our desire to want things like they used to be.

Nostalgia is an interesting thing.  It’s not a necessarily bad, but it is incredibly powerful.  We love to do look back at the past with a sense of wonder.  It gives us comfort for a time when things seemed less complicated.

Churches tend to deal with nostalgia as well.  We love to look back at the time when the sanctuaries were full and the Sunday School program was the greatest in all the world.  Among mainline churches, we love to look back at the past because we want to go back to that time, when things seemed a whole lot easier.

Keep reading “Called. Gathered. Sent.”

Wait for the Healing

Back in May of 2012 , I shared a story of what happened at a Baptist church I attended in Washington, DC in the early 90s.  It was a story of how people who disagreed with each other on the issue of homosexuality were able to still be friends and support each other.
Around that same time, I remember someone saying something after a congregation was going to make a tough vote on becoming open and affirming.  The exact situation is foggy after 20 years, but what I remember this woman saying that after this vote, “there would be some healing to do.”
The pastor was quite aware the stand be open and affirming to gays and lesbians was the right thing to do, but there was also a need to heal the rifts from this challenging process of discernment.  After the prophetic, there had to be time for the pastoral.

When my denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) gathers in Orlando this summer for our General Assembly a resolution will be up for consideration on welcoming LGBT persons not just as congregations, but as a whole denomination.  Knowing some of the folks who came up with the resolution, I think it’s pretty good.

And yet, I’m concerned what will happen to the wider church after the vote.  Will the body been torn apart, never to be put back together, or will there be agents of peace who will try to mend the broken pieces after a hard, but neccesary vote?


Keep reading Wait for the Healing

Sunday Sermon: “No Do Overs”

This is a sermon I preached in 2007 for the Baptism of Our Lord which is next Sunday.  I happen to be preaching next Sunday.  No, I won’t be using this sermon.

“No Do Overs”
Isaiah 43:1-7, Luke 3:15-22
January 7, 2007 (Baptism of Our Lord)
Community of Grace Christian Church*
Minneapolis, MN

Did you ever have one of those experiences where you are playing a board game and you made some kind of mistake? Someone usually has pity on you and you get what is called a “do-over.”

I live for those moments.

Do overs can be great, I mean you get another chance. I really like them when I was playing some kind of athletic game as a kid. Since I was not blessed with physical prowess, this meant that I had another shot at getting it right.

Getting a do-over in say, kickball, is a good thing, but do-overs don’t work so well in the life of faith. In fact, they might do some damage.

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A Grown-Up Conversation on Guns

In the weeks following the Newtown shootings, there were calls for a “conversation” about guns.  I always find it funny when folks talk about having a conversation, because it never means what I think it should mean.  I’m envisioning something like one of those old PBS shows from the 70s where men in serious suits debate the issues of the day.  Maybe even in British accents.

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Top Five 2012 Posts, Plus One More

 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

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."

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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.

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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.)

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

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.

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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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.

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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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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

How Sunday School Made Us Biblical Dummies The Clockwork Pastor

How Sunday School Made Us Biblical Dummies - The Clockwork Pastor

You Really Don’t Want a Wild Jesus. Trust Me. « The Clockwork Pastor

You Really Don’t Want a Wild Jesus. Trust Me. « The Clockwork Pastor:

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