When God commissions Moses to lead the Hebrew slaves into rest from their enslavement and to exhort Pharaoh to repent from his wickedness, God identifies as YHWH: “I Am That I Am,” or “I Will Be What I Will Be.” The name is ironic, for it conceals as much as it delivers. The name is intrinsically infinite with meaning—what will God be?
Attention is the beginning of devotion,”1 suggests Mary Oliver (1935–2019), that prolific poet of the twentieth century who was known for her lingering walks in the woods. This line appears in her reflective essay “Upstream,” in which Oliver records her observations of nature…
I once heard Ross Gay, one of my favorite writers, claim, “A poem is a laboratory for our coming together.” Since the fall of 2021, I have held a poetry discussion group at a local continuing care facility. Monthly participation ranges from one to two dozen people. A few of the attendees are members of the congregation I serve as pastor, but the majority would not consider themselves to be Christians. Everyone loves poetry. I call the group Poetry and You…
Let us build a house where love can dwell, and all can safely live.” The opening lines of Marty Haugen’s fantastic hymn “All Are Welcome” lays out the foundation of what we as Christians are called to do when building the church of God. In our music we sing songs of welcome, we sing songs of feeding the poor, and we sing about embracing those who are different from us and those who walk a path that is alien to our own.
The Conversation: Ojai Church of the Wild was the name of the first wild church I started along with a small group of brave souls who were tired of defining church by a building where we meet. After twenty years as a pastor of traditional indoor churches, I had walked out of the chapel doors and into the sanctuary of the oak trees, leading my community in a worship that might reconnect us with the living world as sacred.
Christian worship stands at the heart of church life. It is the public veneration of God through proclamation of the gospel of Christ Jesus. Its declared mission is to spread the Christian faith to the ends of the earth in fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19…
Sally Ann McKinseyAt almost every entrance to a church building, wayfinding signs point to “The Sanctuary.” This is appropriate, of course, because the specific location of this room in the building matters. The four walls of the sanctuary hold and define the...
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