All Saints Day, officially celebrated on Nov. 1, was observed today in the church we attend. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity both honor (“canonize”) certain exemplars of faith with the designation of saint. All other deceased Christians are remembered on All Souls Day, Nov. 2. Protestants do not make such a distinction, because we ( Read more... )

New Year’s Eve is a time for parties, and where there are parties there are games. Here is a quiz I composed for my retirement party held at the last church I served (of course). I patterned it after the “Bluff the Listener” game on the radio show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. In the reflective spirit of the New Year, it’s a lighthearted-sometimes ( Read more... )

This morning I preached for a pastor in this district who is supposed to be on vacation but is instead laid up with a compressed disc; he injured himself while moving into a parsonage. I was scheduled to preach today, the first Sunday of his two-week vacation, but received an urgent phone call last Saturday to preach on June 30, as well, because of ( Read more... )

As everybody knows by now, the specially called General Conference passed the Traditionalist Plan for dealing with clergy and would-be clergy who are not heterosexual or who would officiate same-sex weddings. Because the Judicial Council has declared most of the proposed penalties for infractions as unconstitutional, those clergy and annual ( Read more... )

My daughter’s pastor asked her to serve as chair of the Administrative Council.  From what I know of John, and knowing he has great respect for and trust in Rachel, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hopes she will become a valued partner in ministry with him and not merely a manager of meetings.  This is more a matter of personality than of structure ( Read more... )

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We had just moved into our new home in Franklin when I received a phone call from the Associate District Superintendent asking me to take a supply appointment of indefinite duration.  I declined, not only because I was still serving a church fulltime (“with all the rights and responsibilities appertaining thereunto,” in the words of my ordination ( Read more... )

The district superintendent has asked for photographs and descriptions of hands-on ministries that churches in the district are doing with persons outside of their church buildings.  For four years now, Orleans UMC has served a home-cooked dinner to the owner and employees of the amusements company that holds a carnival on the town square during ( Read more... )

For the recognition ceremony that will be held at the Annual Conference session in June, the Board of Ordained Ministry requests us retirees to submit a current photo, an ordination photo, and a photo of “a memorable ministry moment.”  I don’t have an ordination photo, but one from ca. 1982 should suffice.  The mission photo is of a group from ( Read more... )

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