Misc. thoughts...

I think that...

...I felt blessed this morning to have the privilege of voting; I took my daughter Kate to the polls with me...

...regardless of how they are performing so far this season, I am so thankful that the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl earlier this year and that I was able to share that joy with my children for the first time...

...Jefferson Church is a voting station, and I hated seeing the building surrounded by signs promoting political candidates...I felt dirty when I left the office today...

...Christians throughout the nation need to be in prayer for Ted Haggard and his family, as late last week Haggard resigned his pastorate at New Life Church in Colorado Springs due to his confessed "sexual immorality"...we also ought to be in prayer for the man who made the allegations, and be careful not to react with spite or bitterness...

...it's Charge Conference season again, and I strongly dislike the paperwork we need to complete, as it emphasizes numbers more than ministry, figures more than transformed human lives...when we do that too much, we become the world...

...I will be very glad when the election is over; I am so tired of the mean discourse (from both sides of the political aisle) and the seemingly endless deceptions masquerading as television commercials, which I can't seem to avoid when all I want to do is watch a football game with my family...

...it was somewhat cowardly for either the Judicial Council or the Council of Bishops (or perhaps both) to delay release of the recent decision regarding General Conference representation by Cote d'Ivoire Methodists until the Bishops were finished with their recent meetings in Africa; good way to avoid answering questions...

...personal character and integrity are the #1 factors in leadership, by far, and Pennsylvanians are blessed to have two decent men (Rick Santorum and Bobby Casey) running for U.S. Senate...

...this month, Rev. Andy Verner of Western PA Conference will lead in the launch of a new faith community in the Pittsburgh Mills Mall, and that seems like one of the neatest ministry settings around...

...the recently announced Genesis reunion tour would be much more fun if original singer Peter Gabriel were onboard...

...too often, when it comes to issues of justice, the Church takes a paternalistic "we'll take care of you" stand rather than a more Jesus-like, fraternalistic "we stand with you" stand, which would be far more difficult and demand a far greater commitment...

...this is the season that Peyton Manning finally gets his Super Bowl ring...

...as I have been prayerfully preparing for the Advent and Christmas seasons, I am once again convinced that Charles Wesley's "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" is the greatest of all Christmas carols...matched with a beautifully majestic tune by Felix Mendelssohn, Wesley's text brilliantly and powerfully tells of the Christmas miracle...the Emmanuel message that "God is with us"...and that Jesus truly is God incarnate in human flesh; no other Christmas carol possesses the theological depth and power of this Methodist classic...

...after ten years of pastoral ministry in Western PA Conference, I still avoid going to our Conference Center whenever possible, because I still get the creeps when I'm too close to the "institutional" side of the Church, and I'm not sure why that is; I'm theologically pretty "High Church" for a United Methodist, but still maintain this strange paranoia when it comes to the institutionalization of the Body of Christ...

...the Church really needs to be doing more for and with the poor...numbers don't matter at all unless we're being faithful to God and our sisters and brothers regarding this absolutely essential ministry area.