Wednesday Festival

Welcome to this week's festival of reading!

I know that holiday logistics and Advent worship are begging for preeminence in our hearts and minds, but there are other matters to consider as well:

I think I've got the players right: Mihee Kim-Kort, a PC(USA) pastor currently at home with children, shares in  First Day Walking a beautiful post entitled "Walking Tsuki" by Kiran Young Wimberly, a PC(USA) pastor in Belfast, Northern Ireland -- about the spiritual practice of walking her dog, an activity that should resonate with many RevGals.

Amy of Talk With the Preacher offers some hints about Barbara Brown Taylor's forthcoming book, Learning to Walk in the Dark.  Can we reclaim the darkness in our own lives?  Always an intriguing question for me.

Is church boring?  That's a sin, states the always provocative Jan Edmiston, who has been writing a series of posts that have been a great help to me in formulating the questions that my small church needs to address yesterday if it hopes to thrive into the future.

Questing Parson reflects as only he can about . . . what, exactly?  About the deep relationships, questions, and confidences to which we are privy; about the joys of watching a young person grow from childhood to almost-college; about the incisive election analysis a high school student  has to offer those of us old actually enough to vote.

And finally, "Stayed on Jesus" was Martha Spong's sermon title for November 4.  I'm going to return to this one several times as I ponder what happened in my church last Sunday when, as I said afterward to some of our leaders, it became evident that the keyword which fills our church is "veterans," and not "Jesus."  It was a privilege to honor those who have served, but this pastor was left with a lot of questions about what we are doing, and how, and why, on all the other Sundays of the year.

Enjoy your reading, and Happy Thanksgiving!