Life In Greencastle

In dozens of different churches here in Putnam County, ministers come bearing a word for their people. They spend the vast majority of their week listening, visiting, learning, studying, and writing. And when Sunday arrives, they gather the bits and pieces of their experiences and the Bread of Life and they walk into a sanctuary or chapel to feed the people. Some of the ministers carry full manuscripts in their hands – handwritten and carefully prepared. Others walk in holding nothing but a word that has been burning in their heart and mind like a fiery coal. Some of them stand behind pulpits, some pace back and forth. Some wear microphones, while others speak like a candle barely holding out against a November wind. Some grip a Bible firm in their hands. But, however they do it, we usually call it the same thing … “preaching.” A minister preaching a sermon is – after all – one of the things that makes a church a church, right? It is what we have come to expect, t...

Clean Saturday, October 24th @ 7 pm Greencastle Presbyterian Church What is "Clean?" : Clean is a worship experience aimed at moving us through a key thematic idea of Christian Scripture using word, art, music and testimony. As a community, time and space will be given for us to consider our life, our city, and our world . We will also carve out time to pray and to sing, to glorify God and invite God's care for our lives and world. Is this a worship service? : Yes, but it is also more. In today's consumer culture, calling worship a service suggests that worship is something we consume. We go to church to get filled up. But worship of God is more than consumption. Worship is experience. Worship is encounter. Worship is transformation. Clean is a worship experience. Who is welcome? : Again, Clean is a worship experience. So, anyone looking to encounter the living God is invited to come and listen, to sing and act. Is this a one-time thing?: Yes and no. ...

This past Tuesday I pulled into a parking spot on the north side of the square, got out of my truck and walked into Almost Home. As I walked in, a woman at the register said to me, “They are already back there.” I smiled, headed back to the bar area, and walked through the double doors of the Swizzle Stick. There were three men sitting around tables, but as I sat down to enjoy a cup of coffee several more began to appear. One by one they came in out of the rain to sit down in a local bar, and by half-past ten there were a dozen of us. Who were we? What was this gathering? We were one dozen clergy gathered in a bar, thus bringing to life the start of a good many jokes: “So, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian and an Episcopalian walk into a bar …” To be sure, those of us gathered over coffee saw the humor in it too, and we were quick to pass a few obligatory jokes around the table. Like the jab about how the Baptists don’t like it when the rain is light because ...