Today is September 30. Which means that tomorrow is October 1. Which means – in case by now you’re wondering – that Octoberfest — which oddly enough starts in late September — is well underway. Yes, yes, I realize that many may wonder what beer has to do with the Christian faith, but did you know that beer contains xanthohumol – an incredible cancer-fighting antioxident? (Of course, you’d have to drink about 118 gallons of beer a day to get any significant benefit.) Okay, only slightly more seriously, beer and the religion have been intertwined for centuries. The Sumerians, who are credited with first fermenting beer,...

It’s taken me a little over a week to read through and digest (or at least begin to digest) all the comments and fabulous conversation about baptism. Which is why I title this post, “What I am learning about baptism,” rather than “learned” or even “believe,” let alone “know for sure.” What you all have shared keeps teaching me about baptism and for that I am grateful. So, several things: 1) We don’t talk about Baptism enough! Goodness gracious, but there were enough marvelous questions, great insights, strong opinions, and wonderfully open invitations to dialogue that we could fill who knows how many Sunday mornings with...