The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

An old axiom supports the premise that “you get what you give.” Many attest to its validity, but sometimes a little more intentionality is called for. When gifts become expectations, then grace...

Various metrics all point in the same general direction when it comes to measuring the evolution of the church. For years we depended on membership rolls, bodies in the pews, irrevocable declarations...

This is the time of year when professional sports teams are deep into basketball and hockey playoff runs, the kind that demand both individual and team efforts to move forward. Egos and...

Early morning haze and the specter of rising humidity accompanied morning coffee this week. It felt the same as in the past, yet differences were apparent. It had been over five years since our last v...

When judging the success of churches, there continues to be a tendency to fall back on numbers. Attendees, members, baptisms, baby dedications, weddings and souls declared and delivered for Christ are...

Change falls hard on religious institutions and its members because we care intensely and deeply for what our churches have provided to us in the past. Theological conviction and foundation, laid...

Six decades, five states, four varieties and pies too many to count, the saga of a rhubarb dynasty was thought complete, brought to a standstill by last years’ drought and the harsh winter of...

And so, the real work begins as Holy Week culminates in anticipated, though not unexpected, outcomes. Perfect hindsight is confirmed. The movement that Jesus never intended to establish, let alone...

Deconstruction is nearly over with Holy Week in full camber, arcing across our lives. Grace that began the Lenten season has encircled us, and through its work we find ourselves on better paths, with...

“Temperance, tolerance, and moderation” has been a catch phrase emerging from over three centuries of denominational DNA. Though unable to pinpoint the exact moment it was coined, the embodiment...

Finding the middle road can be tough. Getting up on it, and staying on it, can be tough. Sliding off due to a high crown in the road is not fun, and breaking down is never a highlight, especially...

Not quite a fully-fledged aphorism, “the power of one” is nonetheless influential enough to incorporate into our day-to-day existence, bringing some degree of hope and imagination to lives dulled...

Knowing where you are and where you want to end up are two very different things. If it isn’t snow, its drifting snow, and if it isn’t drifting snow its mud, not isolated soft places on a gravel...

The world is full of unimaginable hardships, many which we will never experience. The list is long, both directly and indirectly. Hurtfulness has no favorites. But, a world of hurt cannot stifle the...

Sanctuary is a difficult concept to grasp. There are too many definitions and too few certainties in its use. Is it a building where religious program focuses primarily on worship? Is it related to...

In the early 1990s, a group of researchers helped pioneer an inventive computational model known as distributed computing. In short, it allowed projects that were hampered by lack of computational...

Most persons have experienced the participatory sport known as busting drifts, if not this year, then certainly in seasons past. Anyone is eligible for the sport if they have enough courage and the...

For the past 26 years an extra rider has accompanied us in one of our vehicles. It is in fact a small cartoonish plastic cricket from a fast-food children’s meal ordered from a drive thru in...

Heavy snows and cloudy skies highlighted a rather difficult week of getting out and about. Driving was an exercise in caution regarding the drifting and blowing snow. The whites and grays of...

Shelves in religious book sections (virtual or otherwise) are overflowing these days with enticing titles on how to fix Protestantism and the state of the overall church. Few arguments remain untried...

Every few months or so a rather government-ish looking letter fueled with urgency arrives in the mailbox. The wording and appearance of this and similar letters mimics something more insidious,...

It was time for something to change regarding a worn and splintery edge-grain fir floor. Options were rather simple but limited: tear out and replace, sand and refinish or lay new prefinished...

This Advent season finds our social fabric a bit tested and threadbare. That reflects neither complaint nor critique, but rather a shared consensus view that things are not all they could be. Is that...

It is not easy some days to stay above the fray and avoid being consumed by events immediately surrounding us, particularly when they include current politics, economic realities and a cultural...

Once again Thanksgiving is upon us before most of us are ready. This year has felt more last minute, in part due to inflationary food and travel expenses. And it sounds as if ‘over the river and...