This city lies in darkness and its people cannot see And in our chosen blindness we pretend the same to be A lost and wandering crowd of witness to the brightest light Content to sit in clouds of fog and hold to our own might This city needs a lightening of the burdens that it’s held For years of only fighting that the fear and pain be quelled Confess…

Psalm 13 1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Waiting in the silence of God can feel interminable. In seeking God after a difficult conversation, sitting for a week in the midst of illness, or experiencing a…

This is a difficult topic, because we could pick any number of psalms to find courage. Think for a second about Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Or 59:9, “You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can…

Psalm 90 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. We live in a state of dissatisfaction. We look to the next thing, the next purchase, the next drink, the next high, the next brilliant insight, the next salvation to make us whole. Especially now as we look to the new year and take stock of our lives,…

THE SONGS I WROTE IN 2020 A few things to start: This has been a hard year. This week as we look towards 2021 I’ve been thinking about the songs I wrote in 2020. I process my walk with God through music most of the time and I guess God and I had a lot to talk about this year. Pretty much all of this is connected in some…

Every year at The Village we observe fallow month in December. “Fallow” is a farming term which means to leave a field unplanted. This gives the field a chance to rest and replenish nutrients. We practice fallow month to give us space to rest. We try not to fill up the month with events, but rather we take time off from our pilgrim groups, monastic communities and other events.…

Tonight (Wednesday, July 15th) at 8:30 I’m going to join Eric, Sue, and Michael for a time of worship at the church. You can find a link on the front page of the website. I grew up around midweek services. We had a Friday service when I was in elementary and middle school. I would play with my friends outside while my parents were in the service. When I…

Preaching on a whole book of the Bible in one sermon is so hard. Inevitably there are threads that come up during study that can’t be explored. My basic outline for my sermon on Ecclesiastes was, smoke/vapor, wealth, work, party, wisdom, root into God. The reality is that each of those pieces could have been their own sermon, but that’s not the point of this series. So, here’s a…

At the beginning of quarantine, social distancing, and stay-at-home orders I set out on project to fight against the anxiety, depression, and weariness that comes with having to stay home all the time. I began to write lyrics out of our new community rhythms, Wednesday morning zoom prayer, Rod’s Monday prayer time, and livestreaming church. I’m still working on new songs, but three songs come out of those first…

Digital Hospitality I’ve been watching a series of videos lately on YouTube by Malcolm Guite. He is a poet and an Anglican priest. In the past I’ve enjoyed his lectures on literature, especially surrounding Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, as well as C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia. Since the UK went into lockdown, he’s been recording short videos in which he invites the viewer into…

My mother started teaching me violin when I was about 3 years old. I didn’t stick with it, but it led to other things, piano in 1st grade, trumpet in 3rd grade, guitar in 7th grade and others. One of my first memories is of my father playing hymns on the piano as we were going to bed. I grew up with music. Not so much listening to it,…

My grandma is turning 90 on Valentine’s Day. This weekend I am headed to Michigan with some of my family to celebrate with a party on Saturday. There’s something very familiar about all this. When I was growing up we would visit my family in Michigan. We would stay with my mom’s sister in Ann Arbor, where we are staying this weekend. I played and watched sports with my…

I love the band Jars of Clay. My aunt gave me their album If I Left The Zoo when it came out, but I didn’t really listen to it for a couple years. When I did actually listen to it, I loved it. The melodies are catchy, and it was different from any other Christian band I had listened to before. I have listened to everything they’ve done since…

For Christmas my daughter got a set of wooden cookies from her aunt and uncle. They have cookie bases with frosting tops that connect with Velcro. The cookies came with a cookie sheet, an oven mitt, a knife, and a spatula. All together it was a wonderful gift for a two-year-old girl who loves to help her mama bake. I’m not sure when I first heard about the Blue…

Here is a song I wrote around Easter. It's been in the back of my mind since then so I recorded it. Here's the lyrics: Way down by the waterStood a man I did not knowStood a man who called my nameHe said, “Come. Come to the water and I’ll give you life.”Way up in the hillsIs where I went to hide awayIs where I went in fear and…