I have observed elderly people hanging onto the family home too long. It’s easy to understand why – it is a place of memories, a place of stories and a place of identity. Life has been celebrated there – all the ups and downs, all the comings and goings, all the laughter and the shouting, the sparkle and the tears, the loving and the sighs too deep for words. Continue reading
Month: August 2015
Are we institutionally handicapped when it comes to innovation?
What place does innovation have in our thinking about cultural change in the Presbyterian Church? I think development of innovative capacity is critical if churches able to respond to a post-modern environment, both now and in the future. Continue reading
Retirement – a personal conversation in expanding beyond “ministry”
A keen church member asked me recently, “What are you doing now that you have retired and finished your ministry?” Really? Finished ministry! How have we managed as Christians, and I suspect particularly in our mainline churches, to either teach or model “ministry” as something a minister does? Have we devalued ministry to the minority of Christians who have been ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament? Continue reading
Friendship before serving
When you’re down and troubled and need a helping hand and nothing is going right…
You and I need a friend. In the matters of every day, friends matter. A friend – one you can count on, who will “be there” and most of all who will hold out a welcome hand.
Friends are amazing because at the core of friendship is choice. You choose to friend and to be friended. It is the ultimate voluntary relationship. You can walk in or out of it as you please, unlike marriage and family that are complicated by contract and blood. Continue reading
