Frame-storming
Earlier this year the Harvard Business Review published an essay arguing that companies are too quick to problem-solve. A better approach, the authors suggest, is to step back and first look at the problem from various angles. Doing so can lead to a better set of questions, or a redefinition of the…
A Mentor Mindset
I recently picked up a copy of David Yeager’s book, 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People after reading a review that piqued my interest. The sub-sub-title of the book is “A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation–And Making Your Own Life Easier.” I’m fairly skeptical of…
Ways To Read
Ways to read the Bible, that is. Now that we’re several weeks into the Narrative Lectionary, again working our way through the story of Scripture, I’m mindful of the many ways to read this astounding and confounding collection of writings we call the Bible. Here are two, ever-present for me:…
Ten Highlights
Ten Highlights I’m still glowing a bit from the very generous, meaningful, and tasty celebration you all threw for me a few weeks ago to mark my tenth year anniversary with CMC. Every job will have its ups and downs, but it truly has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for…
Chirps of Change
Today’s blog is written by Bethany Davey, now serving as a CMC pastoral intern. I know it’s fall—or, nearly fall—when I hear crickets chirping in the daytime hours. Their song, alongside the smell of musty prairie grasses and the subtle lessening of the sun’s summer intensity alert my body that…
Worship Preview
These next three weeks of worship will complete a summer series, honor an anniversary, and set a trajectory that will take us all the way into Advent. Here is a preview of these Sundays: August 25 | Accessibility and Inclusivity, Communion I can’t think of a more liturgically rich way…
No Bad Parts
I (and Abbie) just finished the audiobook No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model, by Richard C. Schwartz. How’s that for some light vacation road-trip earbud sharing? Dr. Schwartz has been developing this model over the course of his professional life, now widely…
A Softball Lesson
This is the final week of the summer softball season for Ila’s NCIL league that plays at Whetstone Park. I’ve been co-coaching along with several other parents since early May. We’ve lost more games than we’ve won, and the 9-11 age range makes for quite a developmental spread. But this…
All the Feels (Part 2)
Last Sunday Joel made a very brief reference in his sermon to the recently released movie, Inside Out 2 as a way to illustrate that you could take in the second part of something (his two-part sermon) without the first, but you’d probably be missing out on some things. When…
The Joy of Declaring Interdependence
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…” We come into this world completely dependent on others to keep us alive. When we reach adolescence, we learn a healthy independence from our caretakers. When we grow up, we come to realize we have been interdependent all along. Dependence – Independence –…
