Article on Defensiveness | Song: Do You Hear the People Sing? | Friends, Home from Goose and from visiting my family. It's been a great series of travel experiences. And also, I am very tired. -Liz Intent Does Not Equal Impact Often, when I interact with someone--a friend, a neighbor, a church or community connection--I have the best intentions. What I want is to build our relationship, to help someone, to do good. And sometimes, the impact of my action is not what I hoped. What I say...
about 6 hours ago • 2 min read
Song: Forgiveness | Strategies for Conflict in Church | Friends, Do you ever make nonsense out of sense? I was reading lyrics for this post and found a Catie Curtis song on forgiveness. It was really meaningful, with an opening and musical break all about "esus". I mean, who is Jesus without the J? I really liked it. Until I figured out that it was a chord chart. It was just saying to play a suspended E chord. No deep Jesus meaning. LOL. -Liz Let it Go! It is possible to read Matthew 18:21:25...
3 days ago • 3 min read
Amy Grant: The Saint | Quilting in the Black Church | Friends, I'm on the road to the Wild Goose Festival and am enjoying traveling with our "comfortable bed on wheels" (we have 19' trailer.) Honestly the bathroom is an important component and the kitchen is nice, too. -Liz I want it easy I want passover. Not the real thing, but the idea. I want to be able to mark my house, and all the bad things of the world will pass over me. I want to live in a bubble, safe from the hard things of the...
10 days ago • 3 min read
Song: My Lord Did Trouble Me | Voting Rights Walk | Friends, I'm in Denver for a work retreat. I guess I think the routine is take risks, and then take rest. Repeat! -Liz Who am I in relation to God? I love the story of the burning bush. It is full of interesting language and has prompted all sorts of word studies. Who is God we ask of this text? What does God's name tell us about who is God? But today I want to look at Moses. Somehow this encounter with God is what sends him back to the land...
17 days ago • 3 min read
Song: The Age of Indifference | Book: Micro Practices for Justice Ministry | Friends, My last few days before many travels for work and for fun. A consulting gig, a staff retreat, my dad's birthday, and then another business trip. I'm tried just thinking about it. But I spent the weekend taking it easy. I guess the trick is to enjoy the fun parts! Liz Do Not be Conformed. I do a lot of my work with small churches. Sometimes leaders start talking about small as congregations less than 75, or...
24 days ago • 4 min read
Song: Circle of Love | Ted Talk: Calling People In | Friends, I ran up to Vermont this past weekend to see my brother and his girlfriend (and play games by candlelight when the power went out.) Then church with my parents. And the highlight! The Champlain Dinner train from Burlington to Middlebury with a three course dinner. I was there with three high school friends and our spouses. We had a simply lovely time. -Liz Unkindness defiles the speaker. Just before the story of the Canaanite...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Bob Marley and the Wailers | Protest Archives closures | Friends, I can't believe it is August! I insist that summer lasts all the way through September. Still I have three more weeks before I start my travel routine again. Quilting, the pool, games with friends. -Liz Separation is Violence We are meant to live in community. We are meant to be with others. I was just at the Episcopal Province V gathering in Kalamazoo Michigan. We opened with a presentation by local tribes telling their...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Wild Goose Festival | The Rainbow Railroad | Friends, I spent the weekend at the Episcopal Church Province V Big Event. (Province V is Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and some of Missouri. We met in Kalamazoo.) This is gathering of church leaders grappling with how to do church better. I represented Episcopal Divinity School and offered workshops. These events always remind me: I really like church. I like the people, I like the structures, I like the worship, I like the music....
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Song: Iris DeMent Sweet Forgiveness | Politics and Lefty Christianity Friends, I'm in beautiful Kalamazoo Michigan. Worth it just for the name! But I'm excited to be offering workshops on small church mission for the Episcopal Province V gathering. Liz Forgiveness Helps us Act In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus is preaching to a crowd and some friends, certain that getting their paralyzed friend to Jesus would result in his healing, lower the friend through the roof. While Jesus focuses on his ability to...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read