Posts from the Blog of an (un)Tamed Cynic
Last night I attended the second of five Urban Dolorosa memorial events to honor Chicago children killed by violence. Urban Dolorosa—”suffering city”—is a movement among Chicago faith communities to raise awareness about the 277 Chicago children and youth who have died since September 2008, to grieve their loss, and to inspire the city to do [...]
Every year at the beginning of their confirmation experience, I ask our eighth graders what questions they have about God and faith. After collecting them together, I always love reading through the list because it reminds me what is on the minds of these young people as we embark on this faith journey together. As [...]
One aspect of Calvinism (and I suppose Neo-orthodoxy) that I find important is the emphasis on actually talking about sin, a concept that does not often get a lot of play in progressive pulpits. Back when I was going through the ordination process, one of my advisers always insisted that my developing statement of faith [...]
I’m probably not breaking new ground here, but one of the things I am thinking about this fall—regarding both our youth ministry and the congregation as a whole—is how we think about what it means to be an active member of our faith community. As a downtown church that draws on individuals and families from [...]
This past weekend was the kick-off for the youth ministry program year at Fourth Church. This will be my sixth year at Fourth and my eleventh overall year of youth ministry. This means that I have now completed a decade of professional youth ministry. For many youth ministry veterans—both professionals and volunteers—this may sound like [...]
