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God Be With You

Today (Sunday, May 31, 2026) is my last day with all of you which means that we’ll be saying goodbye. It’s never an easy thing to do. Perhaps it was providence that I remembered a devotional on the word goodbye by Frederick Buechner, one of my favorite authors. Starting with what he wrote and then digging deeper, I learned that our modern English word “Goodbye” has roots in the Old English word godbwye, which was itself a contraction of the words “God be with ye.” It was with this etymology in mind that the hymn “God Be With You Till We Meet Again” was composed in 1880. As I say goodbye to all of you, I do so with confidence, knowing that God will be with you and believing that we will have the opportunity to see one another in the life to come.

Link to the Buechner devotional: https://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2022/5/3/goodbye

P.S. As I prepare to go on leave, I intend for this to be the last blog post I send out by email. I’m thankful for all of you who have taken the time to read what I have written and for the thoughtfulness of your responses.

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God Will Not Let Go Of Us

In some of my devotional reading, I came upon the following from Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

“Praying in Christ … is being carried on an invisible current of love that is sometimes discernible to us, but often (painfully) not. We can only trust that growth is happening; we know that it is happening only as we test our slowly expanding capacity to face truth, to accept our failures, to go on questioning ourselves because we trust that God will not let go of us.” [1]

The God of Love, who loves us beyond all our imagining, is also the God who will not let go of us. God’s love is not always discernible. There may be times when we feel forgotten or even forsaken, but God’s love for us is certain and secure. A big part of the Christian journey is learning to trust that great truth even when we cannot sense it.

[1] Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 158, e-book edition.

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Office Closing Early Today

Because of the weather forecast, USD 378 Riley County Schools will dismiss at 2 p.m. today (Monday, May 18, 2026). Church policy is to follow their lead, so I’ll be heading home at 2, but I plan to keep working once I get there. I’m forwarding calls, so feel free to call the church office at 785-539-4191 if you need something. Stay safe everyone.

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Gentle My Desperation

A clergy collegue shared the following prayer, titled “Gentle My Desperation” with me, and I wanted to share it with you. This isn’t the whole prayer, but you can find the rest in Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder.

Come, Lord Jesus,
touch me
with love, life-giving as light,
to quiet my anger a little
and gentle my desperation,
to soften my fears some
and soothe the knots of my cynicism,
to wipe away the tears from my eyes
and ease the pains in my body and soul,
to reconcile me to myself
and then to the people around me,
and then nation to nation,
that none shall learn war anymore,
but turn to feed the hungry, house the homeless,
and care compassionately for the least of our brothers and sisters.
Reshape me in your wholeness
to be a healing person, Lord. [1]

Amen. Gentle my desperation and soften my fears some, Lord.

[1] Ted Loder, “Gentle My Desperation,” in Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle, 40th anniversary ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023), ebook.

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I’m In the Bulletin By Mistake

I’m taking a Vacation Sunday tomorrow, and so I won’t be in worship. My name is listed after the opening prayer, but that is a error. My prayers will be with you.

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Miracle Sunday

This coming Sunday, May 17, 2026, CAUMC will join with United Methodist congregations worldwide in a special, one-time offering. The purpose of this offering is to raise money to endow 500 theological scholarships in perpetuity for Africa, the Philippines, and parts of Europe. United Methodists have long valued theological education. The need is great because while 71% of U.S. clergy hold a theological degree, fewer than 5% of clergy outside the U.S. have access to the same level of education. The need is real, and I would encourage you to give generously.

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Humility

Humility is a Christian virtue, but it is not easily defined. I wanted to share this explanation from Frederick Buechner:

True humility doesn’t consist of thinking ill of yourself but of not thinking of yourself much differently from the way you’d be apt to think of anybody else. It is the capacity for being no more and no less pleased when you play your own hand well than when your opponents do. [1]

[1] Frederick Buechner, “Humility,” Frederick Buechner (blog), August 18, 2016, https://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2016/8/18/humility.