It may seem like a no-brainer that pastors should be relational. After all, the word pastor means shepherd: to be attentive to people and to take care of them, like a shepherd does for his sheep. Of course, pastors teach, preach, administer sacraments, and many other things, but pastors do these things for a particular …
Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (Baker, 2013) is the long-awaited second volume in James K. A. Smith’s Cultural Liturgies series. His first volume, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Baker, 2009) challenged a primarily cognitive approach to Christian formation and education with a more holistic approach centered around desire and imagination. Imagining the Kingdom …
The most memorable farewell ritual for me this week was releasing a paper lantern over the North Sea with our home group. It was a beautiful symbol for our imminent departure and how God will carry us and be our light. The following photos are courtesy of our friend Stuart Newland. First we lit the lantern: …
As we began our last week in St Andrews on Monday, I began to reflect on how a major transition like this can be approached and experienced either as a gift of grace or a cause of stress. To be sure, it’s impossible to avoid all stress and anxiety during a major life transition, but … Continue reading »
This is our last full week in St Andrews. Wow, that feels weird to write. We have lived in this beautiful Scotland town for nearly four years, and I am immensely grateful for what we have experienced and learned here, for the friends we have made and the community we have come to love. And … Continue reading »
This is not a new idea, but it has been beautifully articulated by Jamie Smith in his new book Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (Baker, 2013). Here is a particularly poignant paragraph: Liturgies are compressed, repeated, performed narratives that, over time, conscript us into the story they “tell” by showing, by performing. Such orienting narratives … Continue reading »
Today is the 44th annual Earth Day, and it’s a great opportunity for Christians to reflect on how we should perceive and relate to the rest of creation. A good place to begin in taking stock of how we perceive and relate to creation is to examine the language we use. For example, it is … Continue reading »
What does it take for pastors to survive and thrive in ministry? Answering this question is the burden of Resilient Ministry: What Pastors Told Us About Surviving and Thriving (IVP, 2013) by Bob Burns, Tasha Chapman, and Donald Guthrie. This book is based on seven years of research arising out of a series of Pastors Summits, … Continue reading »
One of the things I have loved about living in Scotland is the ubiquity of tea. Any time is a good time to have a cuppa, and there is a lovely habit here of asking someone if they want some tea when they come over to your house. The common phrase is, “I was just … Continue reading »
“…Our action emerges from how we imagine the world. What we do is driven by who we are, by the kind of person we have become. And that shaping of our character is, to a great extent, the effect of stories that have captivated us, that have sunk into our bones–stories that “picture” what we … Continue reading »
