Aug 6, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, I was recently re-reading Forward Movement’s first publication from 1935. On the last page, there’s a powerful prayer “For Zeal.” Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ came to cast fire upon the earth, grant that by the prayers of Thy faithful people a fire of burning zeal may be kindled and pass from […]
Jul 23, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, This coming Sunday, the lectionary gives us the gift of Jesus teaching his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. Sometimes when I pray this prayer, it occurs to me that I’m saying a prayer that Jesus himself taught, and it knocks me over. I invite you to go look up Luke 11:1-13 in […]
Jul 16, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, This coming Sunday’s epistle reading brings us the beginning of St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Here’s an excerpt, one of the great highlights in the whole New Testament, if you ask me: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things […]
Jul 9, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, I often urge people to pray daily, even when they don’t feel like it. Yesterday, I followed my own advice. I don’t always succeed, but yesterday when it was time for evening prayer, I said my prayers even though I wasn’t feeling it. Having just read the news of the nation […]
Jul 2, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, A few weeks ago, my predecessor as Forward Movement’s head, the Rev. Dick Schmidt, reached out to me. He was going to be in town, and he wanted to come by the office with a friend of Forward Movement to meet me and other staff. Mike (pictured here) first got in […]
Jun 18, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, Today, as I write this, it is Tuesday evening. The reading for evening prayer includes part of the twelfth chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus holds a denarius and tells his followers to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s. Divine worship is […]
Jun 11, 2025
Dear friends in Christ: We welcome back Lindsay Barrett-Adler, Forward Movement’s Director of Development, as our guest author this week. Last Sunday, we heard the story of Pentecost and celebrated the Holy Spirit’s descent into the world. Sitting with my preschooler in our church play space next to the lectern, I gave thanks for the […]
Jun 4, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, Sometimes it seems like the world is spinning out of control. Authoritarianism is on the rise around the world. Violence is endemic. Each day’s headlines bring more chaos. To top it off, the church seems to be gripped by a death-spiral of decline and irrelevance. And then Jesus speaks in the Gospel […]
May 28, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, Tomorrow is one of the most important feast days of the church, Ascension Day. On this day, we celebrate the ascension of Jesus as he returned to his Father in heaven 40 days after Easter Day. Celebrating the ascension of Jesus is less about the mechanics of his return than it is about […]
May 21, 2025
Dear friends in Christ, I’m writing this from Yukon, OK, where the Forward Movement board of directors has been meeting this week. We tend to alternate our meetings between Cincinnati and other locations across the church, hoping that we can learn from dioceses and congregations who are doing exemplary work. Our meeting this week has been hosted […]