Seventeen82

  Happy first Saturday of November! It’s finally starting to feel like fall here in the blessed land of South Carolina … the leaves are changing, the days are getting cooler and shorter (I’m actually wearing a flannel shirt this morning!) … fall is definitely in the air and I love it!  At my home, we are getting into fall mode. Fall decorations are going up in the house, pumpkins and mums sit on our front stoop, the outdoor fireplace is getting a lot of use. We are also getting ready for Thanksgiving. As an adult, I have come to realize that the Thanksgiving meal doesn’t just happen - it takes a lot of planning! We are planning out the menu, that, this year, will revolve around a fried turkey … I can’t wait to spend Thanksgiving afternoon out on the back patio, fire roaring in the outdoor fireplace, some boiled peanuts on hand, frying the turkey for the evening meal! We start the day with cinnamon rolls, coffee and milk, watching the Macy’s Day Parade, and end it with a feast...

  To answer a question with a question, who doesn’t these days? In ways few of us would have imagined a few years ago, everything has gotten hard. Work is hard. Neighboring is hard. School is hard. Friendships are hard. Knowing what to think about the topic du jour is hard. Navigating a pandemic is hard. Church life is hard. Life is hard. Well, harder than most of us had experienced. We swim in a world of tensions, shouting heads, tribalism, and then throw in good measures of uncertainty and no wonder things are hard. People are weary. Tired. Frustrated. Discouraged. As a pastor, over the past few months, I’ve lost count of the articles I have seen about pastoral burnout and men saying, “I didn’t sign-up for this!” Yet, it’s not just pastors is it my friends? It’s teachers, policemen, health-care workers, small-business owners, and virtually everyone else. With everything Covid and politics thrown on top of the normal thorns and thistles of life, it is so easy to understand h...

    A while  back  one of the members of our  congregation  had the disappointing experience of not getting a job that had seemed like a sure thing. She was well-qualified for the position, she  already  worked for another branch of the same company, and she had an excellent work record.  To top it all off, t he manager   had actually told her she was the only candidate he was considering. Everything went well until she told him that while she was willing to work any other day of the week, she could not work on Sunday – the Lord’s Day – as this went against her conviction and the teaching of her church that we are to keep the  Lord’s Day  holy. At that point she was told that this was non-negotiable, that the store was open on Sunday (and no they don’t sell necessities like medicine) and that all employees had to take their turn working on Sunday. He even pointed out that he was also a Christian and that working on Sunday didn’...