Jeff Fox-Kline's Weekly Blog

There was a period of time that I was praying on Facebook Live every week. It was a brief, noontime prayer that lasted all of ten minutes, but was a chance to connect with people at the height (depth?) of the pandemic. These prayers were soul-nourishing, and while the circumstances that necessitated them were terrible, the prayers themselves provided me comfort. There was also a week when this happened... This was perhaps one of the funniest moments of my 2021 and it popped into my head the other day. I love the silly video. This post is perhaps for no other reason than to have it fresh in my head and to laugh at myself some more.  But as this is a blog for me to provide my reflections I will say this: It is important that we remember that no matter how good we are at whatever it is that we do, we will always drop our computers (metaphorically). We will screw up, and fail, and look foolish, and feel dumb. Sometimes this will be no big deal (see above), and sometimes it will be a huge d

 I can't figure out the Easter Bunny. Santa, I get. He's magical, but there's some consistency with his magic. He has an established characterization, consistent practices, a long history, and generally what we say about Santa in front of children won't run counter to what they already know about Santa. But the Easter Bunny? I have no idea. We were at an Easter egg hunt last week and there was a person in one of those anthropomorphic Easter Bunny costumes (Side note: do I capitalize Easter Bunny? Is that the name of the bunny?) and it got me thinking what's that bunny's deal? Are they trying to get us to believe that this is just some person in a bunny costume?  I don't get it, but at least it's better than... We wrote a note to the Easter bunny (I guess I'll leave that lower case...) asking for the bunny to hide the eggs that were in the fridge, and then asking about the bunny's gender. I believe that if you have a question about pronouns that i

  I've had, and seen, a lot of conversations lately about The Church. Maybe we should say THE CHURCH  just to underscore the dramatic weight of these conversations. In these conversations I've heard a lot about how the Church is dying. We are in this post-Christendom, post-institutional, hyper-connected, hyper-polarized, time in history that makes things very hard both for the Church and for my "-" key on my keyboard.  Is it true that the Church is dying? Maybe. Probably. But what is actually dying? And why? Institutions are struggling across the board. Ask a member of the Kiwanis Club, or PEO, or Scouts, or any of these INSTITUTIONS  and you'll probably find the same anxieties among their members. Ask PTAs, or Rotaries, or Neighborhood Associations, or Bridge Clubs and you'll probably hear them bemoaning the lack of participation. Where have all the people gone? Why don't they come to us? Why won't anyone take up leadership? We (the Church) aren't

Psalm 118: 24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. I have a lot of favorite scripture verses, and I love them for very different reasons. For example Micah 6:8 is going to be a call to action that will always tug on my heart. Acts 2:42 describes my ideal version of how the church community can live. 1 Corinthians 12:27  reminds me of how our uniqueness is essential to the community of faith.  But Psalm 118:24 holds a special place in my heart. On a Sunday morning, this is the verse that comes to mind as worship begins. I love to start a service by saying "This is the day that the Lord has made" and being joined by some folks in the congregation as we finish the quote "Let us rejoice and be glad in it". It calls to mind sunlight and warmth. It makes me think of a congregation of folks who are joyfully gathered in celebration of love for God. It makes me think of a celebration like the joyful procession on Palm Sunday (this Psalm i