Though the gospels refer to Jesus as the shepherd who takes care of his flock, it is also helpful to think of Jesus as the gardener who came to clean up his garden and lead it into abundant and fruitful life.
This video relies on some statistics already in wide circulation, but does a service by focusing on what social media might mean for the church.
“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.” What do you think?
We are not ready for the power revealed in the partaking of the Sacraments. We’re not awake to the possibility that prayer is so much more than petitioning God in a dance where hopefully, our wishes are granted–that instead, being called into prayer is to be called into a deep and dangerous proposition.
The Rev. Canon Andrew Dietsche, who was elected Bishop Co-Adjutor of the Diocese of New York on Saturday is a cartoonist.
Pastors and churches spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year attending conferences, buying books, hiring consultants, advertisers and marketers, all to try and accomplish one thing: to increase attendance — to be a bigger church. I’m absolutely convinced this is the wrong tack.
We tend to think our friends and neighbors don’t come here because they’re not interested. It doesn’t occur to us that they stay away because they don’t think we’ll help them attend to the big questions they have to ask. From the outside, we look more interested in organizing taffy pulls than prayer groups. The people who avoid us do so not because we are too spiritual but because they see us as not spiritual enough.