This is a guest post written by Chad Stephenson a Quaker from San Francisco. It is a response to the Friends Journal article “Bringing Children to Worship” and my follow-up article found here. This article comes largely from Chad’s work with children as a librarian as the San Francisco
Continue reading →Suicide and The Things We Carry: A Meditation on the Loss of a Father
Continue reading →“Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and
Continue reading →Awhile back I did a Godly Play story during our meeting for worship. We invited the children to say with the adults and participate in our listening to the story. After the story we had our normal 15 minutes of silent, or waiting, worship. This is a description I wrote
Continue reading →As parents bringing children and teens to a time of worship can be a struggle. We place a lot of expectations on our kids and often hope they won’t “misbehave” during church. Plus, it is easy to succumb to their rowdiness, distraction and desire for entertainment. The last thing
Continue reading →“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NRSV) Introduction: Red Phone Skit – LInk There is No Red Phone If we’re going to talk about what it means to listen to God’s Spirit, then I think we need
Continue reading →This is a skit we did just before my message this past Sunday. We had fun with it. [Person picks up red phone and dials. Sound of Phone ringing. God Picks up.] God: Hello? Person: Hello…is this God? God: Yes, this is God. Who is this? Person: This is
Continue reading →The time has come – it is long overdue – for a Christianity that is fresh and vital and in conformity with established truth, but, what is no less important, proves its reality by the test-tube method of corresponding results. Too long our Christianity has consisted of words – has begun and ended
Continue reading →I rarely have vivid dreams but last night I had a dream that a random group of people followed me as I walked home. They shouted “hey boy,” I could hear them with chains clinking and baseball bats smacking their hands. They wanted to kill me. I escaped by hiding
Continue reading →“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them
Continue reading →This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I
Continue reading →One of the books I’m reading currently is Henri Nouwen’s “Wounded Healer.” There is a lot that is quote-worthy in this text but I wanted to draw out a couple of quotes that have specifically speak to me. For those of you unfamiliar with the book, Nouwen states
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