Category Archives: Christian Faith

April 23, 2025 · 10:58 am

Living Between the Kingdom and Empire

As Christ followers, fresh from the “Alleluias” of Easter’s joy, resume daily routines, will the refueling of Resurrection Day and it’s news be proven to have emboldened us to live as the proverbial “Easter people”? Or will the gravity and bleakness of empire infiltrate our lives and overtake that joyous message? These are the questions I’m thinking about personally as a contemporary disciple of Jesus facing the age-old tension of living between the Kingdom of God and empire of today.

To state it another way, how can the residual effects of full Church sanctuaries, inspiring sermons and the uplifting music of Easter inject us with a booster shot that propels us to live something closer to the “Kingdom of God” than the anxiety and despair of today’s broken imperial system? Perhaps it’s too much to ask, but then again, maybe not.

The Resurrection bespeaks a triumphal death defeating Messiah who calls us into the fullness of abundant and everlasting life. This is life in God’s Kingdom where the reign and rule of the living Jesus is welcomed and celebrated – Christ is Risen!

In this Kingdom living we set aside the restraints and perilous news of the world, in favor of the ways of the living King Jesus. We are released from the magnet pull of overbearing messages via social media and traditional media outlets. Released to spend time with kindred siblings in Christ and focus on the ways of Christ himself. In this release we feel and affirm the defining identity of our “in Christ-ness” that both calls us apart and sends us forth.

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April 1, 2025 · 9:00 am

“Going to Seed” (A Lenten Sonnet)

“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” – Jesus (John 12:24 NIV)

New birth comes from rebirth. Death begats life.
Lose life and save it. Serve others, find hope.

We join Jesus who invites: “Come and die”.
“Die to self. Follow me”. Blossom. Bloom.

Seed to soil, germinate, mature, bear fruit.
Beyond self, looking out, opening up.

Abundant life today and tomorrow.
From one to many, from little to much.

Lay down freely, sprout forth obediently.
Multiply, influence. Son light yields life.

Practice living by giving up your life.
Greater love has no one save Christ Jesus.

His example is ours to follow up.
Fall to the ground, rise in new life and hope.

© 2025 Daniel M. Cash

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March 26, 2025 · 8:47 am

Practicing a Third Ordinance

I have often said that “being Baptist is messy”. One could understand this statement about Baptist-ness in more than one way. Baptists are messy because we are an interdependent group of churches who value autonomy over hierarchy. (There is no One greater Baptist Church, just many churches). We are messy in our congregational polity, giving each member a voice and vote. But maybe we are our messiest in our historic toleration of varied opinions and outlooks that exist within a congregation, or denomination, of people. As such Baptists have been organized, in whatever fashion that organization takes, to appreciate the “big tent” of “differents” (different opinions, viewpoints, experiences and people) that we tend to be.

A characteristic that allows this to be part of both our heritage and our present is the appreciation for dissent. What is dissent? Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity (i.e. congregation) or individual. (source: Wikipedia.org)

For example, when the United States Supreme court delivers a split opinion in which a majority of the justices rule one way, while a minority see the issue another – the minority are invited to write and share the “dissenting” opinion. In this way, if the ruling is 5-4 or 6-3, those in the minority are still afforded the opportunity to articulate another viewpoint, even if that viewpoint will not be followed.

In Baptist life this reality of dissent often exists within congregational meetings and votes. I will not forget one of my first congregational meetings as a pastor when two respected laymen voiced opposite opinions on some matter that was before the church. Each man was listened to respectfully by the congregation, then a vote was taken resulting in one man’s opinion carrying the majority. After the meeting the two men met and shook hands, as the man whose minority opinion had been rejected said, “I may not agree with you, but I will support the will of the congregation”. That is about as civil an example of dissent as you can hope for as a pastor!

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March 4, 2025 · 8:54 am

What I Learned Serving as an Interim Pastor

There is a unique role within congregational ministry, occupied by many yet only truly fulfilled by some. It’s the role of the Interim Pastor. The interim pastor serves between called pastorates in congregational life, as a search team is active guiding the church toward identification and call of its next pastoral leader. In this sense, interim work is liminal in nature – existing in a threshold space in which the interim pastor is helping the congregation look both backward and forward.

Today the position is given additional names like “transitional pastor” or “acting pastor”, but I prefer the term “interim”. Interim clearly identifies, from the beginning, that this is designed as a temporary role. From the moment you say “hello” to a congregation as their interim pastor, you know you will sooner than later be saying “goodbye”. And, if you do your work well, you will leave them prepared for their next chapter.

In order to do this, interim pastors do far more than simply fill the pulpit on Sunday. If you only have someone doing that for your church, you have a supply pastor, not an interim. The work of the interim pastor extends beyond the preaching task, though through preaching much of the work can be addressed, but not if the preacher is only a Sunday guest.

In their notebook on the tasks of Interim Ministry, American Baptist Churches USA list these five objectives interim leaders should help a congregation work through:

  1. Coming to Terms with its History
  2. Discovering a New Identity
  3. Shifts of Power
  4. Rethinking Denominational Linkage
  5. Commitments to New Leadership and a New Future

In my own interim ministry I tried to champion each of these tasks in various ways including through worship/preaching, Bible study, and working alongside congregational leadership. I’m not sure how successful I was in achieving these tasks to the degree that I had hoped, but at least those in leadership knew they were part of the objective of our shared time together.

In this reflection, however, I’d like to speak to some other level learnings from the interim experience. One might call these the “softer” or less objectified learnings that can take place in such a crucial time in the life of a church. So, here are some of things I learned while serving as an Interim Pastor:

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February 25, 2025 · 9:17 am

What I have learned being in the minority

I believe everyone should experience being in the minority at times. It has much to teach us. Admittedly, I write this as one who has spent almost the entirety of my life as part of the privileged majority. If that seems too much of a “woke” statement for you, hear me out. I am a white, male American who has a higher education and has occupied positions of authority others often defer to in respect for the office if not the occupant. This alone has positioned me as a person of privilege and influence most of my life. It is a position I’ve occupied somewhat by fate, having been born into my culture and socioeconomic state. But I have also built on the foundation I was born into with certain efforts of self-improvement. While I try not to take my status for granted, or abuse it, I begin this reflection, admitting it.

That said, there have been several times in my life in which I’ve found myself in the minority. Almost always these have been learning opportunities, causing me to pause and reflect on life from the viewpoint of another. I’d like to share just a few of them.

Mission trips: I have been blessed to have participated in short-term mission trips to Mexico, Haiti, and Chile as part of ministry groups I’ve led or joined. While these trips took place in the security of like-lived groups of people, and under the direction of western missionaries sensitive to our places of origin, each offered moments in which I became acutely aware of my minority status.

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