We don’t mean to offend the Pope, but Becky and I are heading out of town this weekend.  We’ll be in Auburn, Alabama, where we will meet our daughter and son-in-law and stay with his wonderful parents. And we’ll attend Saturday’s Auburn-Mississippi State football game. We are looking forward to a good time. Continue reading →

Following last night’s kick-off edition of Faith Acts, Kay Brown, our Congregational Life and Care Director, posted a photo and a summary of the evening to LPC’s Facebook page. A cropped version of the photo is in the header of this post. The full version is in the footer. Great shot, Kay!

Below the photo Kay wrote:

What an awesome kick-off to our new year of Faith Acts! We had a full Fellowship Hall for dinner, three well-attended adult electives, a bunch of youth for youth group, 3 children’s choirs rehearsing, adult choir, worship music (by Eva and John) for the youth, and a lot of children’s programs in full swing! My personal favorite for the night…12 Busy Bees!!!!! Continue reading →

Confirmation Kick-off is Sunday. We’re expecting ten students, and Joe Franzi, Carol Casten, Ed White, and I will be along for the journey. I like the image of a journey in thinking about what lies before us as we begin forty Sundays together. It will be a quest, a pilgrimage, an “errand into the wilderness,” to borrow the old Puritan phrase.

Confirmation has no place in the modern world; no more than a quest, a pilgrimage, an errand into the wilderness, has a place in the modern world. I am so glad we insist on continuing this outdated practice at LPC. Continue reading →

1. Sharing Worship Matters

The Baptists are as bad as the Presbyterians, Pastor Luke tells me. Members of both congregations use Labor Day Weekend as an excuse to stay away from the service where white and black, Baptist and Presbyterian, we worship the God who made us all. But in our divided world, it really does matter that Presbyterians and Baptists, blacks and whites, worship together. Sunday 10:00 a.m. at First Baptist. See you there.

2. Ernesto has his green card!

I have written about my friend Ernesto in the past. Here is what I said after his first visit. That was December 2013, and Ernesto, who is from Cuba, but works in a chicken processing plant in Arkansas, had been in Trenton to renew his temporary work permit. He came by again last December, and we helped him a little bit, but mostly he was just checking in. He remembered generosity and kindness shown. I wasn’t expecting to see Ernesto this week, but he walked in and waited patiently. His smile was irrepressible and his embrace spontaneous. He showed it to me. His green card. He can stay. He said he loves the country that has given him his freedom and he loves the God who blesses his life.

Ernesto won’t have to travel from Fort Smith to Trenton for immigration purposes any more. But he says he’ll come back for a visit sometime and that some day he’d like to show me Cuba. “I’ll take the pastor to Cuba,” he said. I’m looking forward to the day, Ernesto.

3. Conduct Unbecoming a Presbyterian

The call came late Tuesday afternoon. The rest of the staff had left for the day, so I answered the phone Continue reading →

I would not vote before I would vote for Donald Trump to be president of the country I love.

I am no Trump fan and find both his politics and his personality offensive. For less than a minute, though, an interview with the person who would be president went from politics that offend me to piety that fascinates me. You can watch all 42 seconds of the interview here. Continue reading →