Once again, as the old year passes and the new year beckons, it has been my custom to look back at my most popular posts of the year. Continue reading
My Top Ten Posts in 2020
Christmas Eve Reflections
I lead a little weekly Bible Study on Zoom and yesterday we had the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke Chapter 2. The Christmas story is a good one in which to ponder how we read Scripture since it is so familiar to us. After nearly a half century of studying Scripture for preaching I am still finding discoveries in texts that I thought were “settled.” The Christmas story is one such text.
“Pity the Nation” A Poem for our Time by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
“PITY THE NATION”
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (After Khalil Gibran) 2007
Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves Continue reading
Rick’s Comfort Food Gooey Baked Mac and Cheese
It’s cold and damp out today, so I decided to make this gooey Mac and Cheese, even though I know the grandchildren that currently live with me prefer Annie’s (which turned out to be true. (Matthew 7:6)
Richard L. Floyd: “Prophetic” pastors who don’t love the church
(This article first appeared on the Faith and Leadership blog of Duke Divinity School on on March 17, 2010.)
If the main reason you become a pastor is to promote some cause, then your soul is in danger, and so is the congregation’s.
Words of Remembrance for Don McGillis (1946-2020)
(Don McGillis was the former Editor of the Berkshire Eagle and a long-time reporter for the Boston Globe. He was also my friend. He died last week after spending the night stranded on Mount Katahdin in Maine and suffering a 50-foot fall. His family invited me to share some words at his memorial service yesterday)
Book Review: “Useful Wisdom: Letters to Young (and Not-So-Young) Ministers” by Anthony B. Robinson
Book Review: “Useful Wisdom: Letters to Young (and Not-so-Young) Ministers” by Anthony B. Robinson, Cascade Books, 2020. (Link to the book at Wipf and Stock here.)
By Richard L. Floyd
This little book is well-titled, for it is both useful and wise. In the interest of transparency, let me say that I have known Tony Robinson as a friend and interlocutor for decades. During that time, I have admired his many writings, which are clearly and concisely written, and grow out of his pastoral experience and long years as a church consultant. Continue reading
A Reflection on Forty-Five Years of Ordained Ministry
On this day forty-five years ago, September 21, 1975, I was ordained into the Christian Ministry of Word and Sacrament at the Newton Highlands Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts. I was 26. Continue reading
Reflections of an Old Motherless Child
My mother, Frances Irene Floyd, died on this day in 1967, 53 years ago. She was 53. She has been gone as long as she lived. I was 18 when she died and I am now 71. I have outlived her by 18 years. Continue reading
Dudne M. Breeze (1938-2020) A Remembrance
Greetings from the Berkshire Hills. I’m Rick Floyd and I’m Pastor Emeritus of the First Church of Christ in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
It will be 50 years ago next year that I walked down the Andover Newton hill and took the MBTA from Newton Centre to Newton Highlands for a job interview to run a coffee house at the Newton Highlands Congregational Church. Continue reading
When I Survey . . . 