The season of Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar (not New Years Day!) and calls us into a deep journey of faith to a Bethlehem stable. William H. Petersen, the founder of The Advent Project, comments, “The call is for the Church to ...
As I sat down to write this blog post, news started coming in of an active shooter at Mansfield Timberview High School. The Conference staff is joining with people of goodwill to pray for all those involved and that a peace-filled resolution to what...
Like most Americans, I can remember precisely where I was on the morning of September 11, 2001. I had been the Senior Pastor of University UMC in San Antonio for just five and a half weeks. That morning, I was preparing for a staff meeting when ...
On June 21, at the 2021 annual meeting of the Central Texas Conference (CTC), I delivered what I believe will be my last episcopal address to the CTC – “Way, Way Back to the Future: Envisioning a New Spring,” I have been sharing a printed version ...
On June 21, at our recently concluded annual meeting of the Central Texas Conference (CTC), I delivered what I believe will be my last episcopal address to the CTC – “Way, Way Back to the Future: Envisioning a New Spring,” I am sharing a printed ...
On June 21, at our recently concluded annual meeting of the Central Texas Conference (CTC), I delivered what I believe will be my last episcopal address to the CTC – “Way, Way Back to the Future: Envisioning a New Spring,” I am sharing a printed ...
Jesus had made a promise. “…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, [helper] to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because ...
I am tired of a spiritually atrophied Unitarian United Methodism which acts as if the Holy Spirit is not real. This past Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching at First United Methodist Church in Grapevine. With their Sr. Pastor out recovering ...
With Mother’s Day right around the corner, I can help but thank God for the mothers by which I’m blessed – my mother, the mother I am married to, the mother we raised, and the mother we cherish as a daughter-in-law. When my mother would play catch ...
The Search for a New Center About four years ago, when visiting one of our Central Texas Conference Churches, I sat in the back row. At the close of the service, a young lady sitting next to me walked up and professed her faith in Christ for the ...
Moderators Note: Bishop Lowry's video message to the conference for Easter is available for viewing or downloading at the end of this post. The day opens simply, while teetering on the edge of eternity. The Evangelist Luke records the story. “But on...
Moderators Note: Bishop Lowry's video message to the conference for Palm Sunday and Holy Week is available for viewing or downloading at the end of this post. As we begin the week that we Christians call “Holy,” I invite you to step back with me into...
In this time of chaos and confusion caused by COVID-19 and, most recently, by the dangerous winter weather conditions throughout Texas that have left many without power, heat and/or water, many find it difficult to know how to best move, much less ...
In C. S. Lewis’ epic tale, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe , one of the first creatures the children encounter is Mr. Beaver. Beaver has great wisdom and insight even in a time of the land frozen and in the grip of the White Witch. Quite soon ...
Bishop Lowry states it succinctly and well when he opens his New Year’s message to the conference with “Thank God 2020 is over!” With our sigh of relief that we have begun a New Year, it is good to remember that we have hope and joy in the coming ...
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” May this great birth announcement ring out in homes, be twittered and tweeted in our communities, blogged about on websites, sent in our emails, and zoomed around our nation and world! Click on the video below ...
The first United Methodist Church to which I was appointed as a pastor on my own was St. Paul’s UMC in Kerrville, Texas. Just out of seminary, and not even married a year, I was excited and full of ideas. Practical reality landed on my desk in week ...
During my senior year in High School, I took a choral class to finish out my requirements for graduation. I recall spending most of the time sitting in the back, laughing and goofing off but then as Christmas came near something unusual happened. ...
An Advent video message from Bishop Lowry is available for viewing and sharing at the end of this post. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2 CEB) I love ...
We make much, as we should, of the mission of the church “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Such a mission comes directly from the call and claim of the risen Christ as reported in the closing paragraph of ...
The Martyrdom of Polycarp is a famous story in early Christian literature and lore. Polycarp was an early Christian bishop and probably had a close (student to teacher) relationship with John the Apostle. As a revered older figure of leadership in ...
We look back with a mixture of scorn, dismay, and amazement. It was Nov. 27, a.d. 1095, when Pope Urban II launched the first Crusade to “retake the Holy Land.” At the time, when Pope Urban finished his sermon calling for the First Crusade, there ...
These are wild times. The COVID-19 Pandemic continues to slam us all. International news around the world reports seemingly continual conflicts. Here in the United States, one political party’s convention has just ended, and the other major party is...
With firm conviction, Bishop Gerald O. Glenn of The New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Chesterfield, Virginia, held in-person worship on March 22 despite warnings about the need for social distancing. In the service Bishop Glenn declared, ...
“Come, sinners, to the gospel feast, let every soul be Jesus guest. Ye need not one be left behind, for God hath bid all humankind. Come and partake the gospel feast, be saved from sin, in Jesus rest; O taste the goodness of our God, and eat his ...
The Pandemic swept through the world. It is said that 5, 000 died in one day in Rome. Anyone with resources and means fled from major cities and sought sanctuary in remote locations. Social distancing was practiced long before the term was ever ...
Moderators Note: A video version of this blog from Bishop Lowry is available at the end of this post. Charles Wesley’s great resurrection hymn rings out: “Christ the Lord is ris'n today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia! Raise your ...
Moderators Note: An Easter video message from Bishop Lowry is also available at the end of this blog post. After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. 2 Look, there was a great...
Please see Bishop Lowry's video message for Holy Week at the end of this blog post. “As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the ...
Bishop Lowry continues his latest teaching series titled The Cross and Resurrection. This episode is the fourth and final of the four session class designed to be used by individuals and/or small groups during the Lenten season (though the teachings ...
Bishop Lowry continues his latest teaching series titled The Cross and Resurrection. This episode is the third of the four session class designed to be used by individuals and/or small groups during the Lenten season (though the teachings are ...
Bishop Lowry continues his latest teaching series titled The Cross and Resurrection. This episode is the second of the four session class designed to be used by individuals and/or small groups during the Lenten season (though the teachings are ...
On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Bishop Lowry kicked off his latest teaching series titled The Cross and Resurrection. The video teaching is the first of a four session class designed to be used during by individuals and/or small groups during the Lenten ...
While much of the United States is focused on the impeachment trial of President Trump taking place in the U. S. Senate, I am in Israel on a Holy Land pilgrimage. The same day this writing is scheduled to be posted, we will be at the site of a ...
Moving into the heart of January, we tend to slide easily over the first part of the life of Jesus and settle back into our lives. Amid the chaos of international events, the clamor of impeachment hearings and the ongoing drama of our everyday ...
Yesterday was Epiphany Day, the day of the traditional celebration of the wisemen’s (magi’s) arrival in Bethlehem. Matthew shares this profound offering from Gentile non-believers (probably followers of Zoroasterism). When they saw the star, they ...
Behold the truth of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - we are the visited planet! God came down and took up human form among us. The Bible states this profound, universe changing truth in such plain words. Christ Jesus, the baby whose birth we ...
In his annual message for the Advent/Christmas season, Bishop Lowry focuses on the joy and hope shared by the angelic chorus with the shepherds outside of Bethlehem in the second chapter of Luke's Gospel. "10Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good ...
It seems like yesterday that the wildly popular Christmas movie Home Alone came out. It was so popular they made a sequel (four sequels actually, but no one can blame you for forgetting about Home Alone 3-5). You likely remember the original movie ...
Today, The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church released our annual Christmas letter. This year's letter was penned by the President of the Council, Bishop Ken Carter. I offer this letter as a guest blog post as we continue our Advent ...
One of the truly great passages from Holy Scripture that is often a part of the designated Advent lectionary (readings assigned by the larger ecumenical church) is contained in Luke’s epic first chapter and is simply called The Magnificat because of...
As we move through the season of Advent, I invite us to take a fresh look at the old story. Even more, I invite us to lay the Advent/Christmas journey alongside the trials and tribulations of our world today – and, more specifically, alongside our ...
Last week (Oct. 29), I began a four-part teaching series on The Incarnation - a key doctrinal element at the core of the Christian faith. This followed a live four-session teaching series entitled “Sin and Salvation.” that debuted earlier this ...
This Blog is part two of a three-part blog series pulled from my 2019 Episcopal Address delivered on June 11 to the lay and clergy members of the 109th Annual Meeting the Central Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. To view the video of ...
The fire rages. The steeple consumed in a reddish-orange blaze topples. Unrehearsed, a collective gasp erupts from the watching crowd. A great symbol of the Christian faith, Notre Dame Cathedral is gutted. On Easter morning itself, seven ...
It is sign and symbol. It towers over the religious landscape of our day even in a post-Christendom world. It remains both an offense and a glory. The cross of Christ looms before us on Good Friday. Before we arrive at Easter, we must first stop ...
'How do you imagine the Savior enters the Holy City? Images abound. Some are famous and others merely prosaic. We have an artist's rendering hanging in our front hall at home. I like to stop at it periodically and ponder. The Lord's entry into the ...
After the called General Conference in St. Louis, I (along with others) was asked to write a brief article for Circuit Rider, an online magazine put out by The United Methodist Publishing House. The writers were asked specifically to not re-argue or...
The question lingers from a sermon delivered by Dean David Watson. “When people look at your Facebook page or your Twitter profile, do they know you are a Christian? Okay, you say, I have repeatedly posted Bible verses with colorful, flowery ...
It is the morning after St. Patrick’s Day and I find myself musing about what this great Christian hero would teach us. I invite us to get past green rivers, green beer and the wearing of the green for there is a towering Christian who stands both ...
As I write, it is a Sunday afternoon and I have just returned to my office from sharing with Mooreville United Methodist Church in worship. While with those good and faithful people, I saw the Holy Spirit at work. But I am ahead of myself. Though ...
When I began writing my blog back in 2010, I entitled it This Focused Center based on a version of 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 from The Message (a paraphrased translation of the Bible by Eugene Peterson) “Our firm decision is to work from this focused ...
Gil Rendle in his newest book, Quietly Courageous, poses the question of whether many of us operate from a stance of functional atheism. That is, do we believe in God in some vague intellectual sense but engage in ministry as if God does not ...
Late last week , the Bishops across the United Methodist Church received an important communication from the General Secretary of Wespath (previously known as the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits) Barbara Boigegrain. General Secretary ...
As we watched the evening news together (as is our custom), Jolynn and I were sitting together on the couch holding hands. Halfway through the broadcast, Jolynn shook her hand loose and asked, “Are you upset?” Her question was spot on. I was ...
It was with sadness that I released the following announcement to the clergy and lay leaders of the Central Texas Conference on Dec. 28, 2018. I have received a complaint against Rev. Ben Disney, East District Superintendent based on ¶2702. 1 of...
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people (Luke 2:10 KJV) In his annual Christmas message to the Central Texas Conference, Bishop Lowry reminds all to set aside the hustle...
As we move into the season of Advent in preparation for the birth of our Savior, I offer the Council of Bishops Christmas letter as a guests blog. The letter is written by Bishop Ken Carter (The Florida Episcopal Area) President of the Council of ...
On Saturday, Nov. 3, I preached the opening sermon at the 2018 Global Gathering of the Wesleyan Covenant Association held at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in Marietta, Georgia. Below is the text of the sermon. It was entitled “Unashamed!” and ...
Next week, I will be on renewal leave for a time of study under Dr. Kenneth Collins, Professor of Historical Theology and Wesley Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. For some time, I have been concerned that for many American Christians (and ...
In the second part of my Episcopal address last week at Annual Conference, I tried to offer some insight on seeking a way forward for us as a larger church. This came at the end of three separate presentations (one by Lay Leader Mike Ford, the 2nd by...
If Lent is anything, it is a journey with Jesus to Jerusalem - to the cross and beyond. If Lent is anything, it is a journey of faith. Recently, I have been reading Matthew Bates probing book on New Testament theology Salvation by Allegiance Alone: ...
Take a quick test. What comes to your mind when you roll the word “discipline” over in your head? I submit that it is easy (even at the new age of 68) to remember the times of discipline for bad behavior at school. The phrase “in need of discipline” ...
“Whew! You’d better take that sweater to the cleaners,” exclaimed Jolynn shortly after Thanksgiving. I confess, she was right. I had been holding (as much as I possibly could) then seven weeks old Adam Amittai Gabrielse-Lowry on my shoulder. He had ...
Today, I offer a liturgy for the lighting of the Advent Wreath candles. As I wrote in my blog “The Advent Wreath,” for our family, the lighting of the Advent Wreath and the sharing of the accompanying liturgy around the kitchen table became a central...
"I pray that they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me." (John 17:21) Saturday, October 30th, I found myself with a group from the Central ...
Recently a friend pointed me back to an article written a number of years ago about The Beatles and spiritual hunger. In their meteoric rise from obscurity to fame, The Beatles quickly discovered that fame and fortune were not everything it was ...
Reclaiming a Doctrine of Salvation Last week Dr. Lisa Neslony, West District Superintendent in the Central Texas Conference, wrote in a perceptive email, "What if Christians sought the spiritually lost the way volunteers have been seeking people in ...
A Community of Holiness In a casual conversation recently, a clergy colleague commented to me, "We used to fight over doctrine now we fight over behavior." I am struck by the insight offered in that comment. Churches are to be communities of ...
Periodically I am asked, "Should our work in missions (love, justice, and mercy) be focused at home in the communities in which our churches are located or should they be in extended mission work across America and the world?" My answer is always ...
Struggling with Sin Back in my seminary days one of the big intellectual fads that swept across America was a form of psychotherapy called Transactional Analysis (TA). It was built on the foundation of acceptance and appreciation of both yourself and...
I confess that the words caught me off guard Easter Sunday morning. They shouldn’t have. Scholars argue that the passage read is an early creedal statement of the newborn Christian movement. I had gone to Sunday worship in Boston at a non-United ...
As I write it is Monday, April 10, 2017. Yesterday, I worshipped on Palm Sunday with my wife. The children paraded through the sanctuary waving their palm branches. It was glorious; a joyous expression of the faith! I was sitting on the aisle and as ...
Near the close of John Ortberg’s delightful book Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them, he tells the story of Robert and Muriel McQuilken. An accomplished college President, Robert left his job to care for his wife Muriel as she slowly slipped...
Below is Rev. Frank Briggs', Lead Pastor at Lighthouse Fellowship, Day 6 of Lent, which he posted March 6th. He is posting on Facebook a Lenten devotional to help and guide us through this season of remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus for all. ...
Someone once said that life is what happens to you on the way to something else. There is an element of honesty in such a reflection, which I discovered while in Kenya to my regret. On Wednesday, January 18th, I stepped into a good sized meeting room...
Like many of you, my year has begun with a full slate of ministry activities. It began January 3rd with a day and a half in the office to answer emails and plow through paperwork accumulated from the Christmas – New Year break time. The afternoon of ...
I confess I can’t wait for Christmas Day. We have the whole gang coming to our house. My 92 year old mother and twin brother are coming up from Kerrville, Texas. Our son Nathan and daughter-in-law Abigail are flying in from Boston with our middle ...
Tuesday, November 8, 2016, our world tilted and ground shifted - wherever you stand on the political spectrum in the United States, whether or not it be far right or far left or anything in between or above or below. On November 9th we awoke to a new...
A series of recent readings have left me in deeper reflection about how we reach a new generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dean Craig Hill’s observation (taken from a professor of his when he was a seminary student over arches my reflections....
Last Friday, October 7th, I experienced the high privilege of participating in the first meeting of the Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA). It was my honor to preach at the closing communion service and share with my friend and colleague Bishop Bob ...
On April first of this year, I had the privilege and high honor of being asked to address a gathering of the United Methodist Scholars for Christian Orthodoxy Conference at Armstrong Chapel United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. The address is ...
Here we are partway through Lent and I find myself coming back time and time again to what I like to call the cross connection - that is the way we are connected to the Lord at the foot of the cross. After all, whatever you think of the cross, it is ...
I first caught sight of Skellig Michael while on vacation in Ireland last summer. On a long dream of trip (over 10 years in gestation) with dear friends, we were driving the beautiful Ring of Kerry in Southwestern Ireland. The costal scenery was ...
Do you remember the typical first assignment for an elementary school student on returning to school in the fall? Growing up we often (virtually always) had to write a paper on “What did you do with your summer vacation?” It was a fun assignment. As ...
How do we embrace this joy from God which Christmas calls us to? We know, we surely know, that it is not meant to be a one day phenomenon. The shepherds guide us in living Christmas. The first principle of application is the most simple. They went. ...
I readily and honestly confess I am into babies right now. After an important meeting at the Conference Center this week, I stood around with other grandfathers swamping pictures. Monday night, December 21st, we shall fly to Washington D.C. to spend ...
Last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris and the subsequent actions seeking to bring the perpetrators to justice rightly captures our hearts and minds in a wide variety of ways. The sheer barbarism of the attacks spreads anxiety and fear among the ...
Tuesday morning at about 9:15 a.m. I walked in the doors of Texas Health Resources Harris Hospital Southwest. As I walked up to the information desk where I was to report in for my knee replacement surgery, an elderly woman using a cane and wearing a...
Thursday evening October 22nd we returned home from our pilgrimage following the Apostle Paul’s 3rd and 4th missionary journeys. We managed to include a stop at the island of Patmos where John wrote Revelation. I have had the privilege of visiting ...
For the last two and a half days I have been in Franklin, Tennessee attending the New Room Conference. I was warned not to go. I was told that the New Room Conference was a gathering to plan the schism of the United Methodist Church over the issue of...
I have just returned from a month off for Renewal Leave. During that time period, I have been working on a possible book focusing on the need of the United Methodist Church to reintegrate the core essence of orthodoxy theology. I also spent some time...
Spirit Led This blog will be posted as we open the 2015 meeting of the Central Texas Annual Conference. We meet in a time of great opportunity and equally great peril. Facing forward with a focus on the local church, I invite us to seek the leading ...
A MISSIONARY CHURCH Shortly before I was elected as bishop in the United Methodist Church, I stood with others, including two bishops, at a tiny country church in Leesville, Texas. A plaque was dedicated to Alejo Hernandez who had been ordained at ...
This Sunday I will be preaching at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Belton. I will be using the lectionary text for the second Sunday of Easter, John 20:19-30. As I reflected on the passage, my mind drifted back to an illustration used by Rev. ...
Please click below to view a video message from Bishop Lowry...
This week we are walking the way of the cross. Across the globe Christians traverse the week we call holy in a spiritual and powerfully symbolic journey from the celebration of Palm Sunday to the cross of Good Friday. It is both tempting and easy to ...