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A Letter from a Sojourner to Sojourners

1 Comment / Church, Colossians / By /

Today we begin our Bible study on a book of the Bible near and dear to my heart. I confess that Colossians is one of my favorite letters because I learned it from Dallas Willard, who required me and my Doctor of Ministry class to memorize its entire chapter 3 in two weeks time. So while we organize ourselves and get the hang of studying Scripture together, as a spiritual discipline of sojourners, I decided to start in a familiar and warm place. Why I Picked Bible Study as the Means for Healing of Sojourners Assuming that you have been […]

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A New Dietary Discipline for Sojourners

1 Comment / Church, PCUSA / By /

There are lots of reasons why Christian believers stop going to church. Sin may be at the root of some migration out of fellowship, but people may simply feel they no longer belong or they have sustained an injury of spirit that makes it impossible to stay. My goal here is not to cast blame or to be judgmental, but to find out what is true and see if there is anything we together can do to help. It does not seem a stretch to assert that most people want to feel at home somewhere. A sense of belonging is

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When Church Has Betrayed You

3 Comments / Church, The Church in Exile, The Pastoral Call / By /

My studies of “the missional church” in the last seven years have heightened my awareness of those the church-growth movement used to call the unchurched. Sixty years ago, the people in this category were less likely to have ever gone to church to be exposed to the basic claims of the Christian gospel. They were probably in the minority in post WWII American culture, which in the 1950s was seeing the filling and exponential growth of church congregations nationwide. Consequently, attention to the unchurched was largely a ministry of evangelism. During this era, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade for Christ

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Welcome to the New Year, from the Valley

1 Comment / PCUSA, Personal, The Church in Exile / By /

My family and I made an excursion to Death Valley National Park this week. Home to the lowest elevation spot in the Western Hemisphere—Badwater Basin—Death Valley in the summer is unbearably hot and dry (routinely 120° during the day, “cooling down” to 100° at night). We chose the wiser course and journeyed down during the last week of December. Theoretically, the average temperature in December is 65°, but during our stay the temperatures hovered in the mid-50s during the day, going down to the mid-30s at night. The wind howled, blowing sand and dust everywhere. We came home two days

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Is It Big Brother or God Who Is Watching?

2 Comments / Citizenship, Current Events, It All Started in the Garden, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

The multi-layered tragedy of Ferguson, Missouri, has caused some soul-searching in America. It is not the first such debacle to do so, nor will it, sadly, be the last. We seem to be a particularly blind and stiff-necked people when it comes to facing our racial history, cultural misunderstandings, and impoverished view of humanity. My prayer is that compassion and understanding would overtake anger, frustration, injustice, and violence. It will take a transforming act of God to help us become much better listeners, more patient citizens, and seekers of truth and justice. The soul-searching that is necessary, however, must get

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Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

4 Comments / Citizenship, Death & Dying, Lung Cancer, Naegeli's Laws, Personal / By /

As I dig down in earnest to write a book about my lung cancer experience of the past year, the dreaded “book proposal” has me delving into stuff I have studiously avoided so far: statistics. As part of my research, I attended last night’s Shine a Light on Lung Cancer presentation in my area. The sponsoring organization, Lung Cancer Alliance,  is an advocacy group raising awareness about its prevalence, promoting screening, and lobbying for more funds to go into research of its causes. Almost 200 Shine a Light events took place yesterday, as part of Lung Cancer Awareness Month. The

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Out of the Silence

3 Comments / Death & Dying, Personal, The Pastoral Call, Theological Reflection, Uncategorized / By /

As I indicated in my last post on October 27, the Naegeli family is grieving the sudden untimely death of Matthew, nephew to my husband and me and beloved friend to so many. Some life experiences are simply off-limits to a blogger, particularly when one’s writing might only add to the pain a family suffers. And sometimes, there are no words. This is my one blog out of this sad journey, about what I experienced and how the Word was brought to life during Matthew’s memorial service in Albuquerque. This was a public event, attended by several hundred mourners who

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Family Tragedy

8 Comments / Uncategorized / By /

Beloved, we are reeling from the sudden and tragic death of our nephew Matthew, of a head injury sustained in a car crash Friday night. We have traveled to Southern California to be with his parents and sister where the accident happened, and are helping out as we are needed. Services will be held in Albuquerque, his hometown. Thirty years old, Matt was a talented actor and musician in musical theater, a loving member of his family, and a friend to so many. He was also a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. I am clinging to the promises made real by

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The Biblical Perspective on Assisted Suicide—Part III

1 Comment / Current Events, Death & Dying, People, Theological Reflection / By /

This blog series is coming slowly, as my readers can tell, because I am developing a bit of ADD over the topic. The sad thing is that there are too many “what ifs” and accounts to pore over, and it has gotten a little depressing to go there. And then, this morning, the high school shooting in Washington State puts another spin on the topic. Such a tragic waste, when a desperate, “bent” young person must shoot others before taking his own life. I’m sure I am not the first person to think, “If his real goal was suicide, why

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The Biblical Perspective on Assisted Suicide—Part II

2 Comments / Current Events, Death & Dying, Theological Reflection / By /

As the date for Brittany Maynard’s physician-assisted suicide looms, we are invited to reflect upon the appropriateness, legality, and morality of such an act. This is not merely a personal act, because it involves others in its execution, doctors who have taken an oath to “do no harm.” [I am not saying that a private act escapes moral scrutiny, but the picture is more complicated when an aide is required.] This particular act is a public one because Ms. Maynard is advocating for legalized physician-assisted and -approved suicide as an advancement for society. This is a false and dangerous hope

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