On the other hand . . .

. . . status updates can be helpful. When you see that someone is having a particularly awful/tragic/stressful time, you know that this is actually NOT the week to approach that person about taking on a tedious but necessary committee assignment . . .

Facebook Dilemma

So say you're on Facebook and a few congregation members find you and ask to be "friends".

A few weeks later, one of these women posts on her status that she is having a very difficult day. Do you:

a)respond pastorally somehow because otherwise she might think, "Gee--I put it out there that I was struggling and my pastor didn't reach out or call or ANYTHING!"

b)not respond because then she might think, "Sheesh, now I can't put anything personal on Facebook without my pastor being all in my face about it."

c)go off Facebook yourself so you won't be in these dilemmas.

November 3, 2038

Laramie,WY--Today an emotional Logan Shepherd spoke to reporters about the election last night of the country's first openly gay president.
"Coming forty years after my brother Matthew's murder, this is a moment many of us thought could never be. If he were alive today, he would be prouder than ever to be an American."

Elsewhere, some have likened this election to the election of 2008 when Barak Obama broke the color barrier to become the nation's first African-American president. Others see contrasts.

Retired Bishop Gene Robinson, now 91, said from his home in New Hampshire, "The Obama victory in 2008 was exhilarating. But that election also brought painful results in the passage of many anti-gay ballot initiatives in states around the country. Although most of those laws were eventually ruled unconstitutional, the days after that election were full of anger and grief for many of us."

The President and her husband today invited the president-elect, his spouse, and their teenage son to the White House next week to begin planning for the transition.

November 4, 2008

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen . . .

Illustration

We just finished up our last week of "stewardship preaching' at our place. More's the pity because my sister sent me a wonderful stewardship sermon illustration today.

Next week our parents are moving from the house they have been living in for over 30 years into a retirement community. In the course of sorting and tossing, my Mom found the following letter my sister wrote when she was about nine and had broken something important, incurring Mom's wrath:

Dear Jesus,
Please help me. Help me find the money to pay Mom back. Only not out of the allowance Dad owes me. Just please, please help me and anyone else who is in trouble. Amen.

I e-mailed back and asked if she remembered how Jesus responded. I'll keep you posted.