One of the most important things pastors can do is to help people understand the meaning of their actions and the circumstances of their lives. Many philosophers and theologians have asserted that the ability to find meaning in the events of their lives and in the things that they do is one of the essential … Continue reading Pastor Notes #12 — The Ministry of Meaning
Tag: church life
Pastor Notes #11: A Desperate Act by One of the Least of These
[From my journal while pastoring a church in downtown Columbus:] It was a sad and difficult situation. We have a locked wooden box bolted to the back wall of the church. It has a slot in the top for receiving gifts that visitors (and members) might drop into it for the maintenance of our old … Continue reading Pastor Notes #11: A Desperate Act by One of the Least of These
Pastor Notes #10
Our Sacramental Bible The Bible is a very obliging book in at least one particular respect, and that is that the Bible explains in fairly straightforward terms what it is. That fact hasn’t caused scholars and others to refrain from arguing about the matter. That argument has been going on for centuries, off and on. … Continue reading Pastor Notes #10
Pastor Notes #9
[The following is a letter I wrote to a forty-something parishioner who had been raised in a nominal Roman Catholic home and had given her life to Christ while she was in college. This letter was written on the occasion of her nominally Catholic mother's death. As you will also see, the circumstances of my … Continue reading Pastor Notes #9
Pastor Notes #7
[From a pastor's notebook; the names and places have been changed to protect identities.] He is in the ICU at the local hospital. His heart is failing. He has a pacemaker, but it is not much help since the muscles of his heart are very weak. Why? I don't know. Before I went up to … Continue reading Pastor Notes #7
Pastor Notes 3
Sometimes when we come away from a worship service feeling unmoved, feeling as if the service was confusing, boring, or poorly led, the problem is not actually with the worship service itself or with the people leading it, but instead is a problem within us and our lack of real preparation. And sometimes when the worship service has indeed been poorly planned and led, we can meet God powerfully in it anyway simply because we have prepared ourselves well.
Pastor Notes #2
Can a virtual community fully engage embodied human beings? Or does the embodied nature of human existence require physical presence for full-orbed human relationship and community? For my own vocational musings, is it possible to be a faithful pastor to someone using only virtual, digital means?
Pastor Notes #1
So, I'm sitting here in the coffee shop, looking at a jumble of a "to-do" list and pondering what I'm supposed to be doing. "Is that what you get paid for?" you may well be asking. Well, that's a good question -- one that I ponder often. Am I doing what I get paid for? … Continue reading Pastor Notes #1
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 