Please be patient with me God is not through with me yet When God gets through with me When God gets through with me I shall come forth, I shall come forth as pure gold I still remember learning that song—among so many others—in Vacation Bible School in my home church. As a young person…

I love teaching in theological education because I loved being a student. When I was in college, I was an active lay Christian. I didn’t major in religion and had no plans to be a minister or professor of religion. But I had some questions that weren’t answered in church or Christian campus organizations, so…

I didn’t plan to be a nomad. Yet in the last decade, a combination of school, work and family saw me in a new city—across the country from the previous city—every two years. While I had moving down to a science (checklists, procedures, the three day un-pack), I was not a very good nomad. Traditionally,…

I’m an ordained minister, but I’m not good at all that the life of ministry requires. I’m particularly embarrassed at how bad I am with hospital visitations. Early in my ministry career, I delighted when I put the clergy pass on my car’s dashboard and parked in the specially designated spot. Someone from the church…

I’m writing a four-part Advent Series for the religion website Patheos.com. The first article is out today. The church year begins with a pregnant woman. Christian traditions have called her theotokos. Bearer of God. Mother of God. Most images of the theotokos show Mary in red or blue cloth, halo-ed and cradling a baby Jesus. But that’s not…