I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, praying, and agonizing over the Covington Catholic High School students and their actions in D.C. over the weekend. It wasn’t until this morning that I realized why the situation had wormed its way into my brain so deeply. It’s because I recognized what a missed opportunity the confrontation … Continue reading A Missed Opportunity for a Teachable Moment
Call me a schismatic. That’s what I probably am, at least today. But I’m a schismatic with a purpose, at least, and that purpose is to see the greater good. You see, my beloved United Methodist Church is in the midst of a crisis of conscience, leadership, and confidence at the moment. One the … Continue reading Come, Sweet Death (or, Why I Think The UMC Should Split)
This time of year is one of the busiest for those of us in the world of academia. For my friends in colleagues in the Church, it’s sort of like Christmas and Easter weeks wrapped into one continuous season. Event after event, prayers galore, and a never-ending stream of people who seem to need to … Continue reading Grumps Need More Rest.
Every time there is a mass shooting, the tweets and posts about “violent mentally ill” people come out of the woodwork like termites, eating away at the collective soul of the nation. I’ve even been guilty of it myself, calling one mass shooter “an obviously mentally ill individual”–a comment for which I was very quickly … Continue reading Why Do We Blame Mental Illness? (Because We Can’t Fathom That it Could Be Anything Else.)
Note: This is the sermon I preached in the Walter and Marian English Chapel on the campus of Ohio Northern University today. It represents my real struggle following the senseless deaths of 17 people yesterday in Florida. It is my own, and not necessarily the opinion of the university for which I am employed. Feel … Continue reading Uncensored: Gun Violence
It’s been a while since my last post–a loooooong while! But, I have been “busy,” as they say, which really means that I’ve not been making much of my time, and I’ve trifled it away. Such was the danger that old Mr. Wesley sought for his “helpers” in the ministry among the People Called Methodist … Continue reading “Never Be Triflingly Employed.”
You’d think that this would be the time of year when the Grump is at his grumpiest. You’d be wrong if you thought that. Actually, I love Advent and Christmas, especially now that I don’t have all the pressures I once had when I was the pastor of a local church. Back then, I was … Continue reading It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…Grumpmas.
