My childhood experience of church was of a hungry institution that always wanted more. I grew up in a Chinese immigrant church where attendance always hovered around 100 people, but the number of people who served regularly was much smaller. For my parents, who both came from...
I think my life might have been changed by a movie this year. A movie I watched—and then experienced. Last fall, at a retreat for Christian leaders, I watched what started out as the slowest movie ever. Babette’s Feast is set in the nineteenth century on the northern...
In my line of work, I tend sheep. I think about what they need and find ways to feed, shelter, and protect them. I spend time getting to know them—learning about their backgrounds, their dreams, and their fears. I comfort them when they are afraid. I bind up their wounds. And I...
Over the last ten years, one of the most encouraging practices in my life as a follower of Jesus is my monthly conversation with a spiritual director. The director I work with is a woman who, among other things, has a degree in Jungian psychology. As such, I find she often says things...
I was looking forward to meeting a couple of my friends for lunch the other day. I rarely go out to lunch, but they asked and I love to be included, so off I went. It was nice to get out of the office. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I was listening to KLove radio and had the windows...
Once again, my blog post is slated on the heels of another high point in the church’s liturgical year and a high point in my own discontent. This time, we celebrated Passover with a Seder meal and I actually cried during the service. (Note that I say “actually...
Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what thou art,I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart.- From “Jesus, I Am Resting,” by Jean Sophia Pigott (1876) Do you see? Do you see? All the people sinking down.Do you care? Do you care? Are you going to...
In 2006, when Amy and I were newly married, we moved to Malawi to serve with a relief agency. Before long, we got to know some in the local expatriate community, many of whom were Christian. One of the struggles we all faced in Malawi was finding a church community. One evening we...
“How was your weekend?” “G-g-g-good, Alex! I had a g-g-gr-reat weekend! I w-went to see a movie with my staf-f-f.” “Oh really? That must have been fun.” “It was, b-b-but I’m always a-a-afraid about being alon-ne, and I was afraid of...
It’s nighttime and the kids are asleep. I troll the Internet looking for inspiration. I come across a quote by theologian Albert Schweitzer: “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude...