Children
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Interactive Prayer Stations on Easter & Empty Tomb
20 On Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. (John 20.1) Typically, the Sunday after Easter, my church sets up interactive prayer stations. After the hoopla of Easter service with trumpets and all the festivities, we center this…
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A Sunday (16) in the Life of a Pastor/Mother: Exhaustion
My kids are troopers. It amazes me how well they do going to church meetings, Bible studies, and other church-related activities. Rarely do they complain. They always find a way to entertain themselves. I do my best to not take advantage of their willingness to tag along. Today was clearly a day when exhaustion has…
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A Sunday (15) in the Life of a Pastor/Mother: Marilyn Monroe
This picture is iconic. It comes from when Marilyn Monroe starred in “The Seven-Year Itch,” where she stands on the grate on a New York sidewalk and the draft from the subway below flips her skirt up. I think of this photo whenever I’m at church and the heater is on full blast. Our heater grates…
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Intergenerational Palm Sunday Worship
36And as he rode along, the people spread clothes on the road in front of him. 37When Jesus was starting down the Mount of Olives, his large crowd of disciples were happy and praised God because of all the miracles they had seen. (Luke 19.36-37) In a previous blog, I wrote about my thoughts on planning…
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A Sunday (14) in the Life of a Pastor/Mother: I Hate Balloons
“I hate balloons!” That is what my 3 year old girl screamed as I was prepping the sanctuary this morning for today’s intergenerational Palm Sunday worship. If it had been any other Sunday, I wouldn’t have minded, but today was one of those worship services where it isn’t a traditional service. A lot of time,…
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A Sunday (13) in the Life of a Pastor/Mother: 3 Going on 16
“Sound of Music” is one of my favorite movies. I even went to Salzburg and did the “Sound of Music” tour. One of my favorite scenes is when Rolf and Liesl sang “I am 16 going on 17.” In a couple months, my baby girl will be turning 4. I asked her last night how…
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A Sunday (12) in the Life of a Pastor/Mother: Happy Birthday
Today, we celebrated St. John’s 142nd birthday. It always falls near St. Patrick’s Day, so usually we celebrate with corned beef and cabbage and of course a chocolate cake. It’s amazing to reflect on how much has changed in the 8 years that I’ve been there, I can only imagine how much has changed in…
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A Sunday (11) in the Life of a Pastor/Mother: Spring Forward
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3.1) I’m convinced that Daylight Savings Time is some cruel joke on either parents or pastors. And if you are both, then it is doubly cruel, especially when you lose an hour. Daylight Savings Time only seems to affect pastors…
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Help the Children: Empower or Save?
13 Some people brought children to Jesus so that he would place his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded them. 14 “Allow the children to come to me,” Jesus said. “Don’t forbid them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children.” 15 Then he blessed the children and went away from there. (Matthew 19.13-15) Recently, there…
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A Sunday (10) in the Life of a Pastor/Mother: Jesus & 3 Year Olds
41Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for Passover. 42And when Jesus was twelve years old, they all went there as usual for the celebration. 43After Passover his parents left, but they did not know that Jesus had stayed on in the city. 44They thought he was traveling with some other people, and they went a whole day…
Still Waters 