This post is the first in a series of essays examining how the #Four Foolish Rules we've considered over the last several weeks would apply to specific situations. You may want to go back and read this series, including the introduction, before you consider this post. The Scenario A group of women had just gathered for their weekly Bible study. It was a weeknight, just past the supper hour, in that time of the year when evenings are dark and the air is frigid. These friends had been spending time together for awhile, most of them, in various roles in their church. They were meeting in … [Read more...] about Working the Rules: When Someone Wanders In
practice
A Year of Foolish Posts
We're taking a break from our regularly scheduled program to mark the milestone that happened in the middle of our #FourFoolishRules series: I've posted on this blog every week for a year! I chose just that little sparkler to mark this accomplishment, rather than big fireworks or even a bonfire. Still, I am celebrating the work and your responses and the foolishness all this represents. I really started this blog clear back in April of 2015--five years ago! For a long time it was roughly connected to the ideas that grew into Foolish Church. When I started writing that book in earnest, … [Read more...] about A Year of Foolish Posts
The “Giant, Hideous Insects” All Around Us
A couple of weeks ago I posted a cartoon and a practice invitation for you to think through the ways we jump to conclusions about people, and what would happen if we reframed our perspectives. Here's the cartoon that prompted that post: I was picturing you telling stories like this one of mine, about the time I rounded a corner in an office building, late at night, thinking I was alone, and found myself nose-to-nose with a woman I didn't expect to be there. She was short, and had dark, wild hair, and she didn't expect me, either. I was so startled that I grabbed her shoulders and … [Read more...] about The “Giant, Hideous Insects” All Around Us
Reframing (and an April/May practice invitation)
What if a giant, hideous insect shows up at our door? Or at our church? or business? (Or, in this time of social distancing, on the sidewalk.) What do we assume about why they're there, and what they want, and what we should do about it? Our gut reaction, most of the time, will be to get away. We are wired that way. We make quick assumptions about what's threatening and we do what's necessary to protect ourselves. We barely process why we reacted as we did. I love, in this old Far Side comic, how Edna's friend doesn't jump to the conclusion that the giant, hideous insect is dangerous. … [Read more...] about Reframing (and an April/May practice invitation)
Connecting across Generations
Last week in this space I asked you to try this: Take out a piece of paper, or hit the “comment” button on this post, or open up an e-mail to me at FoolishChurch@gmail.com and send me 3 ways you could initiate a conversation with a person who’s 20 years younger than you. OR, for those of you who are under 40: 3 ways someone 20 years older than you could initiate a conversation with you. By “initiate a conversation,” I mean a good one. I mean a conversation you’d both want to be in. I mean a conversation, where your first words might lead to a … [Read more...] about Connecting across Generations
Cross Generations (and the Invitation for March)
The promise of the church has always included connection across generations, people of all ages getting connected and practicing relationship and genuine love with one another. I can testify to the truth of that happening across the decades of my life. It has always been one of my favorite things about church. Trouble is, it's barely true anymore. It is no surprise to most of us church folk that our churches are aging, and we aren't connecting well with people of younger generations. (Here's one among a multitude of articles on this phenomenon.) I see it in person among the many dozens … [Read more...] about Cross Generations (and the Invitation for March)