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Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Neighbors

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, People, Personal, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

As I contemplate our next, briefer, visit with a local Kenyan family, Mr. Rogers’ theme song “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” comes to mind: It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?… It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood, A neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?… I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day. Since we’re together we […]

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Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Getting Our Feet Dirty—Part II

Leave a Comment / Food, Kenya & Uganda, People, Personal / By /

“Have you been on a farm/ranch/pasture? Have you been in close proximity of livestock?” The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Form is reinforced by a Customs Agent’s direct question. When I answer “Yes,” he writes a big red “A” on my form and points me to the agricultural inspection line at San Francisco International Airport. The agents want to see the shoes we wore in Kenya and Uganda. Inspecting the dirt in the tread, they took two pairs and gave them an antiseptic bath. Yes, we got our feet dirty in equatorial East Africa. My thoughts drift to our first

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Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Getting Our Feet Dirty

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, People, Personal, Theological Reflection, Women in Ministry / By /

Over the years, one of our objectives for a vacation has been to “get our feet dirty.” This is our code phrase meaning, “Get out into the country, behind and beyond the tourist magnets, into the everyday world of our destination.” Like bird-watching, traveling through “the back door” (Rick Steves’ helpful image) enables us to sharpen our focus on a way of life different from our own. We have gained insight into the social, political, and economic realities of the places we visit by having heart to heart conversations with the locals in their natural habitat. On this trip, the

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Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: God Created the Beasts of the Field and the Birds of the Air

Leave a Comment / It All Started in the Garden, Kenya & Uganda, Personal, Theological Reflection / By /

A trip to Kenya means “safari,” an overland journey to view wildlife in its natural habitat. We had several opportunities to do this, and what a geography lesson it provided! After our brief stay in Nairobi to adjust to Africa time, we made the half-day drive to the great Maasai-Mara National Reserve. This huge park, which straddles the border with Tanzania, is home to the largest concentration of animals in all of Kenya. We were there during the great wildebeest migration, an annual event that temporarily changes the focus of the entire reserve.  An African legend describes the wildebeest, somewhat

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Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Travel as Withdrawal

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, People, Personal, Theological Reflection, Uncategorized / By /

Yesterday, I made the observation that travel is a sort of incarnation. In our case, a seventeen-day adventure in Kenya and Uganda included a ministry of presence with impoverished children at risk, new small-business owners, school teachers and pastors. Just being there brought a message: “We see you. We know you are here. There are people praying for you. We support your work for the Kingdom of God in this place. God knows what you are doing here with so little, and he will provide for you.” Over the years, we have discovered our best vacation memories revolve around encounters

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Reflections on Kenya/Uganda: Travel as Incarnation

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My husband and I arrived home yesterday afternoon, after a nineteen-day adventure in equatorial East Africa. In many places we had no electricity, so we had no Internet access, and uploading pictures to Facebook was a problem as well. I decided to catch up now with some reflection that is an inevitable and necessary part of world travel. Though the topic may not always relate to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), most certainly the Word was brought to life for me, and in turn I hope for you. But I can say parenthetically that the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA)

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Sermon Illustration #3—THE KINGDOM OF GOD MAKES AN IMPACT: Church Buys Porno Theatre

Leave a Comment / Moral Authority, PCUSA, Sermon Illustrations, The Lord's Prayer, The Missional Church / By /

Topic: The Now and the Not-Yet of the Kingdom of GodScripture: Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heavenSource: Kent Richardson, “A History of First Presbyterian Church, Concord, California,” revised by David Stearns, FPCC website (scroll down to “Service”). Fourteen years before my arrival as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Concord (California), the congregation had been dealing with a vexing problem. Situated just one block from Concord’s central square, the church had a rear property line in common with the Showcase Theatre. The art deco building faced the city square, and in its heyday was

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Sermon Illustration #2— FAITH: Buried in an Avalanche

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I was washing the dishes, listening to our local news radio station, when the news anchor started a phone conversation with Jeff Eckland, a skier who was caught in an avalanche at Kirkwood near Lake Tahoe. The news report had come over the wire services: Skier is buried in snow 17 minutes but survives  KIRKWOOD – A Kirkwood ski area employee survived a brush with death when he was caught up in a snow slide and buried for about 17 minutes, the Alpine County Sheriff’s office said. Jeff Eckland, 24, of South Lake Tahoe was skiing the resort’s back side

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There’s a Sermon Illustration in There Somewhere

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Our home was filled with happy chaos for about twelve days surrounding my early June birthday. It was one of those milestone birthdays, the big 6—0. So our girls decided to orchestrate a birthday party for the two of us (hubby’s big one is in August); hence, “the twelve days of Birthday.” We are definitely of the school that celebrates birthdays as long as possible, and I have not been disappointed this year! One of the party games our daughters cooked up was a matching game using twenty of my favorite sermon illustrations over the years. Just picking them out

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Response to Ed Koster’s Recent Article

Leave a Comment / GAPJC Decisions, Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Uncategorized / By /

I’m not sure why Ed Koster is still responding to PCUSA remedial cases that were completed over a year ago, but since he mentions one case I spent about three years on, I will comment on the points he makes in his recent Outlook article. The PCUSA faces a problem of discontinuity that is messy in its consequences: Any particular presbytery ordains for the whole church, based solely on the local governing body’s discretion. This scenario works if the presbytery reflects the doctrine represented in our Confessions, which have been agreed to by the body as our means of interpreting

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