Holy Week. It is the last week in Lent and during it we will remember the passion of Christ. The week begins with Palm Sunday when we sing loud Hosanna!. Maundy Thursday is the day we recall the Last Supper in the Upper Room. Our worship will conclude with a brief service of Tenebrae during which we will read the Scripture passages that describe Jesus in Gethsemane  on the Mount of Olives. On Good Friday we will focus on the crucifixion at Golgotha, the death of the Paschal lamb,  and then keep quiet watch until we celebrate the resurrection on Easter morning. Continue reading →

It was over in thirty seconds, but it changed everything. We muddled through to the end, but everyone felt the tension. I was glad to leave.

I was at a professional seminar earlier this week. We were a group of pastors. We were talking about addiction and in one of the breakout sessions the topic turned to pain management, an altogether appropriate turn in the conversation. Our presenter had some helpful insight.  It was right then that it happened.

I don’t remember exactly what she said, but in the context of pain, the woman to my left – I know her slightly – said something snarky about dentists. I suppose it was meant as humor, but it wasn’t very funny. Poor dentists. No one ever says anything nice about them. In fact, it was comment with an edge and denigrating to an entire profession. Continue reading →

Every so often I preach at the Sunday evening worship service at Attleboro Retirement Center.  I count it a privilege to help these faithful men and women, all in the last chapters of their lives, gather at the close of the Lord’s Day to offer praise, give thanks, and hear the Word proclaimed.  It is never a large group, but Jane, a resident and a wonderful pianist, plays the hymns well and the singing, if not strong, is faithful.  Old voices, too, make a joyful noise.

I would guess that it may have been five or six years ago that I first met Frank, and after a while he was always the worship leader when I came to preach. I think he wanted it that way, and I know I did.  Frank was a Presbyterian, all his life a Presbyterian.  He liked helping when the Presbyterian pastor was preaching.

Frank and I got along. Continue reading →

The Bible is full of vice and warnings against it. Famously, the New Testament contains a number of “vice lists,” none better known than the list in Romans 1:29-31. Making the case against sinful humanity, the Apostle writes of all of us, “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”

The thing about the vice lists is that that catch us all. Proud about avoiding the pitfall into which my neighbor has fallen, the lists are just long enough to find me out. Avoid such things and such people, Paul admonishes us again and again. Continue reading →

I read a book awhile back called Difficult Conversations, and I thought it was good. The authors provide all sorts of strategies for defusing a potentially explosive situation, relaxing a likely tense environment as you begin that difficult conversation. From reprimanding an employee to confronting a family member; from expressing disappointment or bringing disappointment, the book gives examples from the work place, marriage, family and friendship. With confidence they assert that every difficult conversation can be had in ways that are healthy and life-giving.

The authors never had to tell someone they were missed at church. Continue reading →