Pilgrims' Home

It is a painfully difficult time to be a Christian in America who believes in Jesus Christ. God, who was persecuted under Roman rule and by his own religious tribe, who suffered by crucifixion and discovered victory through powerlessness, seems all but absent in the current political climate. But America keeps trying to weasel God into our existing political hodgepodge. Whether a lapsed Presbyterian who cites Two Corinthians or a quasi-Methodist who seeks to be relatable, Christians from multiple sides and places seek to create an argument for why one candidate is more Christian than the other. The sense is that most arguments for a candidate’s faithfulness are made in comparison to the other candidate and not made in relationship to the Beatitudes, the prophets, or even, Pauline theology. Forcing God into our politics is reckless and offensive to Christian witness. Now Eric Metaxas appears on the scene to trumpet Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a source for understanding how to vot...

Most days I wake up and say, “It’s time to say something.” Then I acquiesce to the reality that so many words are taking over and so few are listening, so why bother saying something in written fashion? My friend, David Forney, says, “don’t write for an abstracted audience; write for you.” I write for me today and invite you to join or ignore me. I remember confronting every Sunday during my pastoral years wondering how to say something meaningful and impactful based on the last six days and the next six days. I always had the laity in mind as I prepared for Sunday. I entered knowing that my dad went to worship for decades as a restaurant manager or salesmen.   I now view Sundays through his eyes and wonder, “What is good news for this man?” We are tired, America. Our politics, police, and population are filled with anxiety and everyone feels like a victim at some level. Black lives have always been a victim in US democracy; this is not debatable, which creates an uncont...

I don’t remember when I first said this, but it occurred sometime in the miserable and long winter of 2013-14. I was working through my own stuff and a few relational missteps over the past few years. Through the daily examen and work with an exceptional spiritual director, I was asking myself daily, “where is your tenderness?” as an intentional habit to transcend my enneagram 8 sin tendencies. In the midst of this, my eyes are being transformed to no longer see others as incompetent or absent but acting for survival amidst the depth of their own pain. In other words, my own broken eyes need conversion. My own survival practices recognize people’s inability to be present to themselves and others as incompetence; I do this for reasons I am yet to fully understand (it’s my personal culture, to borrow from Edgar Schein). My Jesus question, “where is my tenderness” is an act to be transformed form the inside out. The question teaches me to see and hear differently – with converted...

A good friend of mine said that I wield my power like a badge, unsure if it is a sign to protect others or a sign warning to them. This naming of reality was a bit to clear for me to handle when I first received it, yet now it lingers in my gut as an enzyme to be aware that power and energy are gifts for others and not for self-protection or threat. I read Barton and understand why I assign it to students – the words on the page beckon the reader to “come and die.” She doesn’t know me or my experience, but she has wrestled with her own and walked alongside others to understand shared human experience, and she calls the reader to account for their impact in the world, whether good or ill. She reminds the reader, “you are neither as good as you think but you are also much more.” The little child inside receives this news as a nomad seeking water in a desert. Barton’s words captured my soul as I sit alone in my office this morning, A leader who has experience profound lonelin...

Lent is around the corner, and the question of how to enter the season of the desert journey with Jesus is upon me and us. Lent and the practice of fasting is complicated for me. I don't like to give up my superficial acts as if God is glorified by giving up beer or Netflix or sugar or gluten or caffeine. Yet I am coming to sense and discern that many of these behaviors are indeed superficial and serve to distract me from the deeper questions that I too often desire to keep quiet, push down, and outright ignore.  They are superficial and seek to comfort and soothe my body, so I can ignore the sensations and discomfort and pain that are naturally and attentively waiting to be felt. For the next 40 days, including Sundays, I am going to give up those behaviors that give me comfort and keep me asleep from the world. Booze, sugar, fried food, late night phone perusal and streaming video have become my comfort in life and death. I wonder if what scripture or the catechism says is tru...

How do you currently (or if need be in the past) attend to your soul in ways that invite you to lead from the depth of your person in Christ? "These days there is real tension between what the human soul needs in order to be truly well and what life and leadership encourages and even requires. There is tension between being an doing, community and cause, truth-telling and putting the right spin on things. There is the tension between the time it takes to love people and the need for expediency. There is the tension between the need for measurable goals and the difficulty of measuring that which is ultimately immeasurable by anyone but God himself.  There's the tension between the need for organizational hierarchy… and the mutuality and interdependence of life and community. There is the tension between knowing how to work this system and entering into trustworthy relationships .… There is the tension between the need for an easy discipleship process and the patient, ...

This is the slide presentation for the Pillar Church Congregational Meeting, April 26, 2015. https://www.icloud.com/keynote/AwBUCAESECjHXJL0iieh-DMztddvkaYaKdJEz2VmagtaNJCePzHjnj6w2a22wvZvPvPZ6x8tI-_BHTlIWxnFFkHRMCUCAQEEIOD7svX2T312btJGOoq0TT28dukGH1CoxtRCdOv_Cau9#pillar_church_congregational_mtg_april_26_2015

Engaging Sacred Texts for Teaching Leadership The ARL 2016 Annual Meeting will center on "Engaging Sacred Texts for Teaching Leadership."  We will explore the following questions (these are in draft form and I ask the ARL community to refine these with me): How do we understand, as teachers and leaders, the intersection and interplay of sacred text and leadership formation, as content? Process: What are the pedagogical practices or implications by engaging sacred texts for leadership formation? What are the methodological assumptions that we employ in our engagement with sacred texts for leadership formation? -- When it comes to our discipline and engaging Scripture or sacred text, the religious leadership conversation begins in one of two ways: 1) start with the biblical text and extrapolate new principles and theories or 2) start with social science concepts and theories and seek out biblical examples. This is not bad or wrong, yet this instrumenta...

Remembering Debbie Talmo "I bet you cried the day you were born; it means you are human.” (Marilyn Robinson reminds of this eternal truth in her book, Lila .) We embraced our full humanity Easter Sunday when the phone rang. The ham just removed from the oven, the potatoes piping hot, and the kids bickering due to a chocolate rabbit induced sugar-high. The phone rang, I answered and listened to Pastor Kris share the news that Debbie died. Easter Sunday - the day of life; these phone calls do not happen on this day. I hung up and had to decide whether or not to tell Lindsay, who stood over the dinner rolls. Sorrow poured out, not life, not joy, not Easter - tears poured out in that moment.  We are supposed to be with Debbie today; We planned to travel on spring break to Minnetonka - to allow Madeline to say see Debbie and to say goodbye to her - Lindsay and I to re-live stories, to remind her (and us) of the wisdom, love, and grace that she and...

Pillar Church Discovery Presentation

http://www.globaleducationfirst.org/220.htm How does the work with Global Citizen Education assist the work of pastoral formation in theological education? from Global Education First: Barriers to global citizenship Legacy of the current education system.  Schools have traditionally prepared people to pass exams, proceed to the next level and graduate into the workplace. We now face the much greater challenge of raising global citizens. Promoting respect and responsibility across cultures, countries and regions has not been at the centre of education. Global citizenship is just taking root and changing traditional ways of doing things always brings about resistance. This entails changing the way education is organized— making content more relevant to contemporary life and global challenges, introducing innovative and participatory teaching and learning styles. We must rethink the purpose of education and prepare students for life, not exams alone. Outmoded curricu...