It wasn’t so very long ago that your church’s front door was … your front door. It was how newcomers and visitors (and everyone else) came to you. The values held by growing churches were accessibility and hospitality, making sure those joining you could easily get in and feel welcome. About a dozen years ago […]
Category: Communication
The past two years have brought us all historic and largely unfortunate events and new realities: COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, escalating urban violence, a contentious and contested presidential election, deepening partisan divisions, economic instability, weather-related calamities, and now the tragedy in Ukraine. And, given cable news and social media, we are more aware of these […]
At Nativity, we preach in “series”, using Scripture to explore inspiring and life-changing themes over multiple weeks. This is a practice that we originally adopted from our Evangelical friends but one that is right at home in the cycle of the Lectionary and the seasons of the Liturgy. This week we kick off our last […]
Every year, and only once a year, we take a whole weekend to invite parishioners to consider getting up out of the pew (or off their sofa at home) and start serving in one of our parish ministries. We call it ministry “push” weekend. Each of our ministries serves an important function in the mission […]
This year’s election has felt increasingly like a contest not so much of two politicians or parties but of competing visions for the future of the country. In each case, the other side is represented as an existential threat, a radical departure from life as we know it, and a sure step towards a bleak […]
In a crisis, the easiest response is to go with what you know. But the problem with the COVID-19 crisis is that some of the very things we were most comfortable with in parish life are the very things that we are now restricted from doing. COVID-19 is like a big reset button on everything […]
Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4:14 (NIV) In a time of such unprecedented crisis and cataclysmic change, everything looks unclear. Things we were so sure of last week – our schedules, our methods, our finances – have suddenly been thrown into a […]
We just started a new series for this new year about something that shapes a huge portion of our behavior and identity – though we don’t always know it. Our habits operate below the surface, quietly automating our lives, sometimes unbeknownst to us. It’s an especially timely series, given the multitude of resolutions we make […]
I have become convinced that there is a class of people, at least in Catholic culture, who truly believe their spiritual gift is complaint, and that their contribution to the body of Christ is criticism. Self-proclaimed liturgists, theologians, and canon lawers who take it upon themselves to police the rest of us who are actually […]
If you’re visiting for the first time in a while, you may have noticed that the blog has undergone a transformation. Over the past few weeks we’ve done a complete overhaul of the site – both visibly and behind the scenes. Here are a few lessons we learned while updating the blog: 1. Make it […]
