The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. — Psalm 16:6

When people hear that I work two-thirds time as a solo pastor, they usually smile knowingly and say, “church work is never part-time.”

The Constitution says nothing about church attendance, so perhaps Sunday morning should be the one day each week that the President gets to sleep in. He certainly works hard enough. But before he hits the snooze button, President Obama should return to the question of whether he and his family will join a congregation in the Washington area. He recently said that his family had not made a decision about joining a church, and I can respect that – such a decision takes time. But it is a critical choice, with both political and spiritual implications.

Living out in the suburbs as I do, with three kids and a minivan, I want to propose driving as a spiritual practice.

Background. Calvin was born in 1509 in Picardy, France. Picardy is described as farm country with strong religious ties. His mother is known only to have been a humble person with a zeal for pilgrimage. His father was the financial administrator of the Cathedral chapter of Noyon. Calvin had four brothers and two sisters most of whom later joined the reformed movement. At the age of fourteen, Calvin left to study in Paris (Ganoczy, 3-4).

When I attended McCormick Seminary in the early 1970s, it was located on a huge campus on the near north side of Chicago. In a cost-cutting effort in the late 1970s, McCormick sold the campus and moved to a single building adjacent to the University of Chicago campus. Recently, McCormick announced it is now selling its single building and will rent space.