It’s Super Bowl Sunday.  Any Patriots fans here? Any Seahawks fans? Any “anyone but New England” fans? And “I don’t care”? Be nice.

By 10:00 or so, one team will win the trophy, many of them will quickly put on hats and t-shirts. Soon, they’ll get rings. Usually the entire organization, players, coaches, support staff and front office people, get rings. They are the team behind the team, after all.

The fans will buy their own keepsakes. I was eleven when the Dolphins went undefeated in 1972. I bought a book about that season. I got a jersey with my name on it. That’s what fans do, if you’re into that kind of thing. I saw an Indiana shirt here a few weeks ago after they won their college championship. Fans become walking advertisements for their teams.

Or, you might say, we become salt and light for our teams. Some fans are a bit saltier than others. Some shine more brightly than others. Note how that loyalty and visibility come easily to people. Now let’s look at how Jesus instructed his followers in the Sermon on the Mount.

Read More

When our oldest son was in Scouting for 10 years, I volunteered to do some fundraising for the Gulf Ridge Council.  I’d go to local businesses and say something like:

“I believe that one of the biggest problems we have in society today is young men.  Many of them are essentially lost.  They fill our courts and prisons, leave unwed mothers stranded and alone, and those problems get compounded over and over again.  Scouting works directly on that problem by helping to shape young men who will be responsible citizens and good fathers.”

It worked because it’s obviously true. Scouting is not as popular today as it once was and it has had its own controversies and changes with which I have not kept up. But who would argue against the Scout Law?   

Read More

Our annual meeting invites us to reflect on the prior year and look ahead as best we can. I began to think about all of the repairs, renovations and remodeling Good Shepherd has done over the last ten years.

When Meg and I came for my interview, the nursery had been fairly recently remodeled and refurbished, and we loved it. It said a lot to us about the commitment the church had to the babies and toddlers you had, as well as the ones yet to come.

Remembering that, I took a mental walk through all of our buildings and grounds, starting with our reception area and working through the office wing into the parish hall, kitchen, educational wing and into the main church. Then across the street to the Kenney Youth Building, the nursery, the Campbell building, our apartments and then downtown to our Thrift Shop. I made a list. Every building and all of our grounds have been remodeled and/or renovated in significant ways.

Read More