As I mentioned in my previous post, “All are sought,” which built off of the concept of “all are welcome,” I want to expand on an idea of accompaniment, something the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seems to be moving towards embracing more and more. Accompaniment in this sense means meeting people where they are at, and walking alongside them, being an embodiment of God’s … Continue reading Accompaniment
Happy October! For those of you in the United States, however, it might not be so happy as the government has shut down as of midnight. As you might guess there will be some leadership and theological reflections offered as links in the following. As always, Tuesday brings a host of links which I offer as hopefully good reads that you might find interesting and … Continue reading This Week’s Links
What might it mean that all are sought? We pick up the conversation from last week where we discussed the idea of “all are welcome.” If the church, and its congregations are going to actively claim that “all are welcome,” I believe it needs to take seriously the conception that “all are sought.” So what might this mean? It starts in a missional understanding … Continue reading “All are Sought”
I enter into this post, deeply aware of how divisive this might be. I shake a little at the thought of this, but deep down I know I must write. A week and a half ago, perhaps more than at any other time in recent years, I felt convicted (and really, I still do given our current potential for a government shut-down)! I feel convicted … Continue reading Neighbor love in light of the past week’s events
Recently, I had the privilege of having a Facebook conversation with a pastor friend. He was openly wondering questions about welcome and what that really means after having read Nadia Bolz-Weber’s Pastrix. I think my pastor friend unwittingly gave me the start of a series of blog posts, so we’ll see where this conversation takes us. To set the stage, we have all seen it, churches … Continue reading The Implications of “All are Welcome”
It’s that time again. Time to share some stuff I have read over the past week that I think you might enjoy. This week I offer them under the headers of leadership and collaboration, church, neighbor love, stewardship, community, and vocation. Leadership and Collaboration Dan offers a great reminder of some of Peter Drucker’s thoughts on treating employees like volunteers. It’s great advice and worth … Continue reading This Week’s Links
There has been a lot of interesting stuff written and published in the past couple of weeks. These all deserve their own post by me, but for the sake of time and in an effort to share this good stuff, I entrust these links to you for your reading and hopefully thought provoking pleasure. Leadership If you are like me, and you are always looking … Continue reading This Week’s Links
Last week, I came across one of those “re-posts” on my Facebook news feed. I wasn’t particularly happy when I saw it. It read: “REPOST IF U BEILIEVE IN GOD AND IN 2 MINUTES HE WILL DO YOU A HUGE FAVOR” Now first of all, yes, whoever first created this re-post misspelled believe. Second, there is an assumption seemingly made that God has a gender. … Continue reading Some thoughts on a re-post and the prosperity gospel
As has become custom on this blog, I am including a transcript of the sermon I preached this past Sunday (September 1st, 2013). The gospel passage that this centered from was the lectionary appointed one, Luke 14:1, 7-14. Without further adieu here it is: A Sermon for September 1, 2013 (Lectionary 22/Pentecost 15C); Gospel of Luke 14:1, 7-14 The past two Saturdays, Allison and I … Continue reading A Sermon on Luke 14
In my posts yesterday I hinted that there would be upcoming posts about recent changes in the ELCA (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Today, I offer a guest post sharing some reflections from my brother Thomas who was a voting member at the ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly on behalf of the Southwestern Washington Synod. Thomas is in the midst of graduate studies in social work and … Continue reading Guest Post- Reflections on the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
Timothy Siburg 