Late last year, as I was finishing the manuscript for my new book, “Woodstock: A Story of Middle Americans,” which is rooted in my hometown of Woodstock, Ill., I thought about how, as a kid, I learned what church is. As you can read in the book, I figured it out in the basement of First Church of Woodstock, my family’s congregation. That’s where some of hid behind the furnace to talk, look at racy magazines and try cigarettes. As I write in the book: “Church, at its core, is about relationship — vertically with the divine and horizontally with other humans. We boys were figuring out the horizontal part of that in a building where people prac- ticed the vertical part together. Together. That’s the key. We were comrades, plotters, secret-keep- ers. We were learning to trust one another, to rely on one another, to have one another’s back.” Please know I’m not suggesting that youth leaders today encourage kids to hide in church basements, … [Read more...]

People of faith often use metaphors related to eyesight. We’ve seen the light. We get the gift of new eyes. We see visions. We’re good Sunday school pupils. Oh, wait. Never mind that one.  These phrases are helpful but they flutter away to wispiness when compared with what the results of cataract surgery can be. I’ve worn glasses since fifth grade because of deteriorating nearsightedness. In recent years, each time I’ve shown up for my annual eye exam, my doctor has told me I’ll eventually need cataract-removal surgery but I’m not there yet. This year I crossed the finish line — and with something of an impressive final sprint, too. So I went to a member of my congregation, John Hunkeler, one of the best eye surgeons anywhere, and let him work his magic. First the left eye on one Wednesday morning and then the right eye a week later. The in-between week was rather astonishing in that when I’d close my bum right eye and look just through the newly implanted lens in my left … [Read more...]

My memories of the first time I taught a week­long seminar at Ghost Ranch about getting from pain to hope through writing include the striking suffering of two women in the class. One had been abused as a child, but until that week hadn’t spoken publicly about it. The other’s husband had just deserted her. She was utterly blindsided. The first woman finally put the story of the abuse on paper and revealed herself as a terrific and gritty survivor, even as a child. The second woman approached her pain with surprising humor and had all of us laughing through our tears. I can only guess what kind of writing will emerge this year when I teach “Turning Our Pain Toward Hope Through Writing” the week of Aug. 11 at Ghost Ranch, our national Presbyterian conference center in beautiful northern New Mexico. What I’m sure of is that I will leave renewed after hearing and reading stories of personal and corporate pain and eventual hope. Maybe your story will be among them. Before we … [Read more...]

I knew something fascinating was coming when my friend and co-author, Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn, sent me an e-mail saying, “Gentiles do not have the monopoly on religious intolerance and stupidity.” (Our book is “They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust.”)   Jacques had just read one of the regularly e-mailed Torah commentaries he receives from a prominent Orthodox Jewish source. In it, the author, a rabbi, had recounted the story of another rabbi who once told a student this: “There is a source for April Fool’s Day. If you count 8 months and 25 days after April 1st you arrive at December 25th. April Fool’s Day is the day on which the world is deceived and made a fool of that there was some sort of ‘immaculate conception,’” the rabbi’s reference to the day Jesus was conceived.   Jacques, a Reform rabbi who draws on learning from a wide range of Jewish traditions, including Orthodox, was outraged that someone slammed Christmas, and by implication … [Read more...]

At the end of a line of 14 other persons standing in front of our congregation to profess their faith and become members a few weeks ago sat my stepson Chris in a wheelchair.   “I’m here,” he cried out in what could only be understood as joy when his name was called.   And how blessed Second Church of Kansas City is by his presence. For as the contemporary theologian Jürgen Moltmann has said, a congregation in which disabled persons are not accepted is itself “a disabled church.”   Those are fine sentiments, but let’s be realistic. Chris, who suffers from a seizure disorder and developmental disability, functions cognitively as about a five-year-old. His speech is sometimes hard to understand. His mobility issues increasingly confine him to a wheelchair. Beyond all that he calls me a “duckhead” and jokes that my name is George.   Given such realities, what can Chris possibly bring to my congregation and what can he get from us?   Those are questions that … [Read more...]

My congregation may or may not help to create one of the “1001 New Worshiping Communities” the PC(USA) is promoting, but just having that challenge before us has made a difference.   It’s further evidence that, as a rule, we should embrace the possibility of change, not resist change at all costs.   I’ve been part of a small group from my congregation this past year that has been dreaming together about what a new worshiping community would look like if we were to help get one going or just support one’s emergence. This discussion has blossomed many ideas — not just for the 1001 project but also for our existing congregation.   We’ve talked about new ways to connect with students attending the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which is our down-the-street neighbor. We’ve thought about renewing a previous effort to connect with a predominantly African-American congregation. And we’ve kicked around lots of other proposals.   Perhaps some of these ideas would have … [Read more...]