ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 30, 2025
As many of you may have heard and some of you might have smelled, we had a little electrical fire at the church on Saturday. I don’t want to be dismissive of what occurred, but I am thankful I had a small wedding in the chapel; otherwise, no one would have been at the church on Saturday. We might have created a whole new entrance to the Forum had it not been discovered. Though I need to thank John Gembala, who came up after I smelled something burning, and he was the one who actually found the source. Joel Plaag came up a little later and helped us find the breaker to the junction box where the fire started. It was a marvelous team effort. And I am beyond thankful that it did not cause significant damage. 

Something a bit humorous was noticed by one of our church members Sunday morning in the Contemporary Service. A key line in one of the songs we sang was, “Set your church on fire…” Of course, that is the language of Pentecost, a Spirit-filled experience where God ignites something that appeared dormant and lifeless. The good news is that our electrician was able to determine the cause, and it had nothing to do with God. With that said, how often do people imply or outright blame God for something that I do not believe was God’s doing? Just think, a few thousand years ago, when a volcano erupted, God (or the gods) was understood to be the cause, and usually it had something to do with punishment as God (or the gods) was angry. Now, when a volcano erupts, really smart people talk about the movement of tectonic plates, magma, gases, pressure, and eventually a boom. Actually, really smart people give a little more sophisticated detail, but they are pretty clear about the cause, and God has nothing to do with it. 

How has the evolution of science and theology shaped our thinking about the ways God acts and does not act in this world? How has your own understanding modified over the years?

We are thankful, God, for all the ways your loving kindness is at work in this world, but we also want to apologize for any way we have accused you of doing something that simply is not in your nature. Keep our focus on Jesus, for there we can glean important insight about who we believe you to be. Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 29, 2025
Prayer for the Week:
Could it be that we were created 
    for something important?
Could it be that we have been called 
   for something impactful?
Could it be that you, 
   Most Generous and Amazing God, 
      have been
         shaping us, 
         teaching us, 
         preparing us 
      for a moment just like this,
         a moment when 
            more grace is needed,
            more kindness is required,
            more Christ-like living
               is demanded.
If so, we shall step forth in faith, 
   trusting that you will be 
   our guide and our strength. 
Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 28, 2025
So yesterday, I officiated a little wedding in the chapel—a lovely young couple. About 20 minutes before the wedding started, I got two rather large splinters from a piece of wood, right on the end of my left index finger, including one of them going under my fingernail. I was able to quickly pull out the one under the fingernail, but the other one had to stay until after the wedding. I figured I’d deal with it when I got home. But after the wedding, I sat down at the computer and started working on a couple of different things. And that small splinter was right on that part of the finger that makes contact with the keyboard. And it was surprisingly painful for something so small. In fact, I was forced to stop what I was doing, poke around the office, and search for a needle to help me dig out the splinter. 

Why are some of the smallest things so irritating? In this case, something really got under my skin, but there are other things in life that can appear rather small, yet they irritate us to the point of bringing everything to a standstill. Here’s my struggle—there are times when I think that small yet annoying irritant might in fact be God trying to awaken me to something rather significant. And there are other times when the irritant can consume my attention to the point that I lose focus on what is really important. There have been times in my own life when I have made the small stuff, not only the big stuff, but the primary thing above all other things. Can anyone relate?

This is when spiritual discernment is so important. It is a practice that needs practice, using prayer, meditation, study, worship, and other spiritual disciplines, in the pursuit of God’s priorities over that one irrelevant thing that continues to irritate the snot out of me. The church, and I am talking about the Church Universal, has a bad habit of losing sight of the God stuff amidst the clamoring of what does not help pursue love, reconciliation, mercy, justice, kindness, and ultimately, salvation itself. Let’s help one another in pursuing the way of God and not the babel of the irrelevant irritant. 

There is plenty of stuff that irritates us, O God of Creation, yet we seek to have a sacred awareness so that we might be irritated by the things that irritate you. And not simply to be irritated by such things, but to seek what is good and right and just. Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 27, 2025
Tomorrow, we will begin a five-week journey of casting a vision of where we are going as a church, using one of our Core Values each week as a sort of jumping-off place. And yes, I am using a space metaphor for going somewhere; the implication, of course, is that we are going somewhere we’ve never been before. Because the Gospel is always seeking to be relevant, and because the world is changing in every moment, and because the church plans to share the Gospel tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and the day after that, then we must understand that stagnant and stationary are not possibilities. The core message of the Gospel of Jesus remains unchanged, but the methods, means, and channels through which it is shared are forever evolving. 


In my sermon tomorrow, I will talk a little about the church in the United States. Approximately 4,500 churches closed in 2019, but in 2020, that number jumped to 7,500. It has been going up each year, and though it is only an estimate, researchers believe as many as 15,000 churches have closed in the first six months of 2025. There are new churches opening, but the failure rate of new churches has increased dramatically over the last decade. And though the numbers are not easy to determine, it is estimated that 65-86% of churches in the United States are declining or stagnant at best. 

Are you depressed? Strangely, I am not. To the surprise of many, only about 17% of the U.S. population went to religious services in 1776, and some researchers put the number between 10-12%. In the early 1800s, something called the Second Great Awakening spread across the United States, changing the religious landscape. Our denomination was born during that time. Life can return to a valley of dry bones, and if you haven’t noticed it, Cypress Creek Christian Church has been growing each of the last three years. The numbers may not appear dramatic, but since 4 out of 5 churches in the U.S. are stagnant or declining, it is good to know that we are bucking those trends. But resting on our laurels is not wise. In fact, complacency leads to stagnation, and stagnation is the doorway to decline and closure. 

I hope you are ready to take a glimpse at our future, and equally important, determine how best you can participate in that future. 

Your Gospel, O Lord, is life and love. Help provide us with the necessary faith, with a sprinkle of boldness, as we seek to join you in the new way your Gospel is being offered in this unique moment of time. Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 26, 2025
I was recently reminded of a Tony Campolo quote that I’ve loved. Tony once famously said, “Mixing religion and politics is like mixing ice cream and horse manure. It doesn’t hurt the manure, but it ruins the ice cream.” Ruin is probably an understatement, and my concern is that the mix of religion and politics right now is making a stinky mess of everything. I’m not suggesting that people’s faith should be entirely separate from their political views. Actually, I think the opposite is true. But how do I allow my faith to inform my politics without my politics enforcing on others a specific religious belief? I’m not suggesting there is one simple way of navigating the relationship between these two very important aspects of our social existence, but in a democracy, there needs to be some respect for pluralism. 

Our tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), broke off from the Old Light Anti-Burgher Seceder Presbyterian Church in the early 1800s. Part of the disagreement was over who was welcome at the Communion Table, and Old Light people did not allow the New Light people at the Table. Churches have been bickering about such things since Jesus ascended to heaven, but what happens when it moves beyond the Table? What would have happened if the Old Light folks would have said that the New Light folks could not vote or could not hold political office? That would mean a theological difference would become the lens through which someone is deemed deserving or not when it comes to the political process. In the movie, The American President, the main character, President Andrew Shepherd, says, “America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight.” It is challenging and messy, and when religion gets involved, it only intensifies the difficulties, especially if someone attempts to impose specific religious beliefs on that democracy.

How do we say that our beliefs seek to inform every aspect of our lives, including our politics, but because faith is freely chosen, then it also requires us to give space for others to freely choose? The moment we attempt to dictate faith through any means is the moment we have removed the possibility of faith becoming something someone chooses.

Strengthen my convictions, O God of Immeasurable and Transformative Love. Strengthen these convictions, not so I can bully others into holding the same beliefs I have, but so that I may continue to strive toward greater love in this complex and diverse world. Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 25, 2025
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.” Those words have been rattling around inside of me for a few weeks. I’m not sure if I’d use them in my sermon this week or not. Yet I find myself agreeing  with the words and then adding a caveat, a reason to sort of disagree. Then a day later, I toss out the caveat and sit with Thoreau’s words. You see, I am bothered by all the things I am supposed to do as a friend, everything that supposedly defines a good friend, and all the expectations that culture places upon the concept of friend. But what if Thoreau is right? And what if we struggle in the same way we struggle with the notion of God’s grace? So often when people hear the phrase, “God loves you unconditionally,” the response is, “Yes, but…” They are not quite ready to accept it as a true gift with no strings attached. In part because people have too often encountered conditional love. “I will love you, but first you must…”And I sort of wonder if people’s definition of friendship has become skewed by experiences of conditional friendship. “You can be my friend if…” Maybe those exact words are not said, but it is implied. In the end, a person is always trying to earn the status of friend, when it simply should be a given. God’s love is a given, yet too often we treat it otherwise.

We have a friend in you, O Lord. You are a friend who teaches us about unconditional love, a relationship that doesn’t impose expectations or rules. Instead, you allow the joy and power of the relationship to shape us into the people you believe we can be. Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 24, 2025
So, if you are reading this, then it means you were not taken away to heaven yesterday. Of course, there is always the possibility that folks can continue to receive email and peruse social media after being snatched from this world and taken into the clouds. Whatever the case, I have not heard of planes crashing to the ground because pilots were raptured, though I did witness some really bad driving today, but from what I could tell, there were still people behind the wheels of those cars. No one can blame the rapture, just a usual day of driving in Harris County, Texas. 

If you are wondering why I am referencing the rapture, then you probably had better things to do with your life then follow the nonsense on social media that predicted that the premillennial dispensationalist rapture would occur yesterday, aligning itself with the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah. Let’s be clear—the idea of rapture as depicted in movies and fiction of the last thirty years is not Biblical. Oh sure, creative people can cherry pick the Bible and create all kinds of nonsense, but that doesn’t make something Biblical, as respecting its historical context and original purpose is what it means to take the Bible seriously.

Let me give you an example, something I am calling prohibeoism, which I have coined to describe an important theological concept of anti-preventionism. Prophbeoism is the idea that Jesus does not want us to prevent forest fires. In fact, Smokey the Bear is the enemy of prohibeoism. The Latin word, prohibeo, means to hinder or prevent, and it is the Latin translation of the Greek word found in Mark 10:14, where Jesus says, “Do not prevent…” This clearly means that Jesus did not want us to prevent forest fires.

Of course, what you have just read is utter nonsense, and frankly, a rather stupid example… but the best I could create on short notice. However, it sort of gives you a hint of how the concept of the rapture came into existence. The word rapture comes from the Latin word that is used to translate a Greek word found in 1st Thessalonians 4:17, probably meaning nothing close to what some have tried to claim it means. Mark’s Gospel, as a whole, does not present an escapist theology, where people have to leave this realm to escape its evils. Instead, Mark presents a new era, a new world, breaking into the current world through Jesus. It is truly an example of heaven coming to earth. 

The concept of rapture, as defined in certain left-behind fiction, is less than 200 years old, and it really changes the heart of Christianity. It’s not about bringing healing and wholeness to this world through humble and self-giving love. It’s not about becoming like Jesus, but about taking the name of Jesus as if it were a secret password, giving people access to the earth-escaping shuttle that has only one destination: heaven. This misguided reading of a single word has also become the lens through which people read the Book of Revelation, turning it into a blueprint of the end times, while dismissing its intended message within the historic genre of apocalyptic literature. This would be like reading Charlotte’s Web and Animal Farm, convinced it was a window into a future when English-speaking animals would take over the world, and the only safe place would be those living in the city, as far away from the rural landscape taken over by these talking animals. It would be interesting if a real estate mogul, owning a lot of city housing, was the one claiming this theory about the need to flee the rural landscape. There is almost always an alternative motive. Sometimes money, other times it power or prestige. At the end of the day, it rarely has anything to do with what initially claims.

Continue to impart wisdom, O Spirit of Heavenly Insight, for I desire the tools to make well-informed decisions, rather than blindly accepting the latest unfounded claims that purport to be your truth. Encourage me to explore, always asking the pertinent questions and the ones that follow, in my sincere pursuit of Jesus and his life-giving example of love and compassion. Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 23, 2025
What happens when something that seemed so far away from your family context, something so outside what you believed could impact you directly, ends up on your doorstep? It might be a frightening diagnosis, betrayal, change in relationship, addition to the family, death, layoff, or mental health crisis. There are those crises that were a long time in the making, something we could see coming from a fair distance. It’s not that those types of events are good, but often there is time to make ourselves ready. But when it feels so unexpected, the news is not only troubling, but the unforeseen nature of it feels like a sucker punch that leaves us stunned. Can we better prepare for the unexpected?

In Psalm 18:6, we read:

In my distress I cried out to the Lord;
   I called to my God for help;
God heard my voice from his temple;
   I called to him for help,
   and my call reached his ears.

I believe those words to be true, yet I have absolutely no proof. It is a statement of faith that emerges from a relationship with God. And like any good and healthy relationship, a person cannot wait until the unexpected occurs before strengthening the relationship. I’m not suggesting God will choose to ignore our cries if the relationship is not strong, but since it is an act of faith, if we have not developed a deep and abiding connection to God prior to the unexpected event that turns life upside down, then how are we going to trust that God will remain faithful? If you have no reason to trust someone, even if you imagine them to be trustworthy, will you trust them in a moment of crisis? It’s difficult to know for sure, but those who have intentionally worked to develop a relationship with God and have then deepened that relationship over time will find comfort and hope in the words of the Psalms.

You hear our cries, Merciful God, and we trust your hearing is full of compassion and concern. As your love is both endless and unconditional, we seek to fall more deeply into that love, learning to trust its immeasurable care for us and all the world. Amen.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 22, 2025
Prayer for the Week: Yesterday, was International Day of Peace
We pray for the power to be gentle,
the strength to be forgiving,
the patience to be understanding,
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding to what we believe to be right.
May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.
We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence.
Help us to devote our whole life, thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we were created.
(From the Week of Prayer for World Peace, 1978)

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 21, 2025
George Bernanos was a French author who was very much shaped by his experience in WWI. He wrote, “The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.” Not only would I agree, but what I see happen in so many settings, from business to government to religion itself, is that the end is like moving goalposts. You can continue to justify the end using whatever method you wish when the goal changes  at every turn. At the beginning of 1 Timothy, the author is referencing the importance of good teaching, and we read, “…the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith” (1:5). The goal is love, and among the means to that goal are the things of love, like a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. If it changes to something other than love, at least for those of us who claim to follow Jesus, then I believe we are on the wrong track.

Keep my eyes upon the prize, O Sacred Vision. May love be both the goal and the means by which we see that goal realized. Amen.