Free Range Priest: Weekly 'Good Stuff'

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:10:36 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘The Healing Power of Letting Go’ by . ‘Lament is a necessary and healthy response to grief, but it is not about self-pity or getting stuck in constant sorrow. In scripture, lament always moves toward hope.’
‘Easter Sunday & Impossible News’ by . ‘I’m glad we got the story of Easter instead. The story of the impossible, the impotence of weak leaders claiming to be strong, and the evergreen lesson that no matter how bad the news gets, it’s never the last news. And so we can say, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!”’

Church stuff

‘Why new work rarely gets funded’ by ‘In other words: The innovative work would still be done by newer leadership. But the funding would flow through an older institution.’
‘Burnout Is Just the Beginning’ by . ‘Despite terror filling my insides, I decided to jump and truly be set free, leaving behind the life I knew and had worked to achieve in order to discover a more sustainable way to do ministry’.

Other stuff

‘Zen and the Art of Caring For Your Equipment’ by . ‘I’ve always believed that how you care for your equipment says something deeper about how you care for your sport, and maybe even how you care for your life.’
’Trying to Win at Everything Is Why You’re Losing’ by . ‘What deserves my time and attention in this season? What needs to be turned down or turned back up? What dreams don’t need to die, but need to wait on the back burner?’

What I wrote this week:

‘“How do I get them to change” is not the question to ask’. ‘’How do I get my congregation to change?’ (also insert ‘priest’, ‘bishop’, ‘denomination’, ‘church board’, etc). The answer: You don’t.’
‘It’s Easter! Now what...?’ ‘The earliest spiritual training began with a conversation:
‘what do you seek?’ Physical trainers begin with lifestyle and fitness assessments, so they know how to guide their clients.The Trexo gym intake form is a little of each.’

And finally…

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Holy Week Good Stuff

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:03:44 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Beloveds, we are heading into the most important part of the most important week in the life of the church.

I wish you a blessed Holy Week - may your faith be renewed by walking the way of the cross.

There’s no ‘Good Stuff’ on Good Friday - so I’m sharing the beautiful writing I’ve discovered so far this week.

God stuff

‘Word and Sacrament at the Hospital Bedside’ by ’Hospitals are liminal spaces—fixed between life and death. Human beings enter through birth and depart through death, often within the same walls and at the same time.’
‘Cursing at Customer Service’ by . ‘How close did I come to discrediting my sermon? I was about three seconds away from steamrolling a visitor at my church, without even knowing it.’

Church stuff

‘Tragic Abundance: Spring Cleaning as Mortification’ by . ‘A typical American, I am vastly superior at the “feasting” and “ordinary time” execution of the liturgical schedule and not so great at the fasting and mortification times…;
‘Holy Tuesday Vows’ by . ‘What if, instead of clergy renewing their vows on Holy Tuesday, the Church renewed her vows to clergy that day?’

Other stuff

‘Dean, you gorgeous man!’ by . ‘I saw all this and then I spoke. “You two are a sign and a wonder!” and they chuckled at me.’
‘50 Names. 100 Miles.’ by . ‘Maybe you know this feeling, not from running, but from something you’re carrying right now. A hard season, a setback, or something that keeps asking more of you than you think you can handle.’

What I wrote this week:

‘Staying awake with Jesus in Holy Week’. Jesus asked his disciples to stay awake with him for one hour. They couldn’t do it - at least not yet. But we’re called again to try… Join us for virtual Vigil at the Altar of Repose.’
‘The only Good News we get today is that it’s only the first day of the week’. ‘We’ve been walking through Holy Week - remembering with our lives. Ever since the first Christians did. Ever since the first crowds followed Jesus.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

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Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:03:02 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘People are Stories’ by . ‘The God who created us saw people as who were storied, people who were filled with volumes and chapters of life.’
‘The joy and hope of a repair cafe’ by . ‘There is beauty in the commitment to reducing, reusing, and recycling. But for me, the real gift is in the human connection and generosity of time that says, “You are good and deserve good things. How can I help?”’

Church stuff

‘The Silence at the Altar’ by . ‘When you stand at the altar, you do not stand only with those who are visibly present. You stand within the prayer of the whole Church, with the saints and the faithful departed, with those scattered across time and place, and indeed for a world that does not know how to pray for itself.’
‘An Obituary for the United Church of Christ?’ by . ‘Denominational leadership has met this reality with a combination of denial, wishful-thinking, doing what we’ve always done only more single-mindedly and even self-congratulation.’

Other stuff

‘What Punk Taught Me’ by . ‘What I took from punk, and what I’ve carried ever since, is that coalition doesn’t get built through shared agreement on aesthetics or ideology. It gets built through a shared commitment to something real.’
‘The Babylon Effect’ by . ‘In this biblical story [the Tower of Babel], people are building toward the sky together — until their language splinters. No one can understand each other anymore. The project stops. They scatter. Something structurally similar may be happening in digital products right now.’

What I wrote this week:

‘How my ministry became ‘Cage Free’’. ‘So I proposed another possibility …
what if we designed a new way to serve ministry together, that best supported everyone sharing the Gospel with minimal stress?’
‘Staying awake with Jesus in Holy Week’. Jesus asked his disciples to stay awake with him for one hour. They couldn’t do it - at least not yet. But we’re called again to try… Join us for virtual Vigil at the Altar of Repose.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:11:28 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Becoming Happy in 10 Easy Steps’ by . ‘Prayer, Scripture study and memorization, fasting, generosity, gathering for worship—these are among the happiest activities we could choose at any given moment.’
‘I wanna die with a mellow heart’ by . ‘Because of her, I have a personal goal to live and die without bitterness.’

Church stuff

‘The Mainline Church Is Running Out of Pastors’ by ‘The mainline church may think it has a building problem or an attendance problem. What it actually has is a bench problem.’
‘Church-hopping, Part XV: “Coffee Hour” Edition’ by . ‘But here’s my secret: sometimes, I go to church for the “coffee hour.”’

Other stuff

‘The gel isn’t glamorous’ by . ‘“How was your run, Mom?”
Me: “Great! I ate sugar for 3 hours and watched the sun come up.”
‘This Part of My Life Is Called…?’ by . ‘Instead of interacting with the world mainly through screens, now I’m a body in the world again’.

What I wrote this week:

‘Do you have an announcement for church this Sunday?’ For most congregations, the days of a paid parish administrator are long gone. So how do we keep up with the news and the ‘communication’ of the community?
‘Digital Ministry Friends’. I didn’t actually write this! This is a post about an interview I did with about … digital ministry. And friends!

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 10:52:45 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘When the Heart Shifts’ by . ‘Then I asked her to imagine something else. God sits down beside you, looks you in the eye, and says, “I love you.”’
‘Three Fresh Ways to Grow Closer to God’ by . ‘As someone who thrives on routine, I can fall into the trap of engaging in spiritual habits because it’s what I always do, instead of being motivated by a desire for greater intimacy with God.’

Church stuff

‘The United Church of Christ Is Running Out of People—and Pastors’ by . ‘A church with fewer than 50 worshippers likely can’t afford a full-time pastor. Heck, they may even be struggling just to pay the light bill and the property insurance. And if they do manage to have a pastor who is there 40 hours a week, they are almost certainly cash-flow negative, which means they are living off reserves—which won’t last forever.’
‘Power of Community’ by . ‘The buildings might close, take on a new name or be bulldozed into the ground so that new life can begin. The good news of Jesus Christ, God’s love embodied here on earth, with us in the dirt, unwilling to shy away from our mess but instead offer hope, renewal and active participation in what God is up to today will not die.’

Other stuff

‘I got married two weeks ago’ by . ‘For years I used to tell people that a marriage is a miracle. I mean, how else do you explain two people—in a world of billions—finding each other and fitting together just so and then committing to each other for a lifetime?’
‘Two Years Ago I Quit My Life’ by . ‘When things feel uncertain and I feel anxious about how unsettled my life remains, it’s helpful to remember why I left in the first place.’

What I wrote this week:

‘It’s faithful to believe in the death of the church’. ‘There is danger in conflating the continuation of the church itself with the insistence on a certain expression of it.’
‘It’s a love story’. ‘Jesus offers her what her heart really needs. not romantic love - something a million times stronger. the living water - the source of life - that is the love of God that saves us all.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:50:26 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘The Invitation’ by . ‘God doesn’t just want to “tell us what to do” because He wants to partner with us in the work of revealing His Kingdom on Earth.’
‘Transcendent Trust’ by . ‘The whole economy of God’s work with people is built on the simple binary word “trust”. We will all either trust God, or we won’t.’

Church stuff

‘Where sermons come from’ by . ‘My interrogator seemed dubious — more inclined to think preachers must shop at the Sermon Store and buy what they say on Sunday.’
‘Do People Think About Meaning and Purpose All the Time?’ by . ‘Engaging in regular worship is incredibly predictive of thinking about meaning and purpose on a regular basis.’

Other stuff

‘The path of least friction’ by . ‘You’re not stuck because this business is “hard.” You’re stuck because you’re solving the wrong problem, or solving the right problem with the wrong strategy, or solving the right problem at the wrong time.’ (I feel exactly like this with ministry).
‘My Mom Died Well - Here’s What that Taught Me’ by . ‘A good death isn’t defined in the final hours. It’s built — day by day, year by year — in the living that comes before it.’

What I wrote this week:

‘We can’t talk about ministry without talking about money’. ‘My feelings about this are clear, and my struggles with it personally are becoming clearer.’
‘Hearts up! Start Here to join the gym’. ‘Here’s the truth: You can’t think your way into relationship with God. You have to participate in the relationship.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 10:40:08 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘The Cost of Getting Closer to God’ by . ‘Our whole life is an opportunity to grow in intimacy with God, and to live in worshipful response to God’.
‘What the Heart Wants’ by . ‘Having desires is not the problem. Our challenge is that we do not begin life knowing what truly deserves our deepest love.’

Church stuff

‘Studying the Past to Cure an Unacceptable Present’ by . ‘Generation by generation, Christians are forced to learn—often the hard way—that our endless patterns of wanting cannot be satiated by anything this earth has to offer.’
‘We had an Epiphany!’ by . ‘We would also like to issue an official apology to the liturgical season of Epiphany for sleeping on it for much of our young adult lives.’

Other stuff

‘How far back in time can you understand English?’ by . ‘Go back far enough, and English writing becomes unrecognisable. Go forward far enough and the same thing will happen, though none of us will be around to notice.’
‘The School of Adulting’ by . ‘One of the hidden geniuses of a healthy church body is young people learn how to be adults from men and women who have figured out a lot of things about how to live a life that matter.’

What I wrote this week:

‘This work is never finished.’ ‘I’ve grown to appreciate my own heedless optimism - my sense that of course I have endless time and energy. But of course I don’t. And I have even less when my body is revved up before I even open my eyes.’
‘We’re only human’. What would have happened if Adam and Eve had stayed in the Garden of Eden?… they would have gotten bored! …‘Ho-hum another day in paradise…’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:22:38 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Love Your Enemy...even when I don’t wanna’ by . ‘Those ashes remind us that nothing here is permanent, maybe not even humanity’s tendency to fall under the thrall of fear and anger and greed. People, systems, philosophies, hatreds die.’
‘What quitting coffee taught me about God’ by . ‘Over time, I found that it’s nice to fast as a community, but also, it’s surprising how many of your problems can be solved obliquely.’

Church stuff

‘When Churches Refuse to Talk About the End’ by ‘In hospital chaplaincy, I see what happens when families don’t talk about limits. They carry unbearable weight because no one gives permission to say, enough.’
‘Why Replicate When You Can Reimagine?’ by . ‘What would you create if you were starting from scratch—knowing it would live entirely on YouTube? Or Zoom? Or Substack? Or wherever people are actually gathering online?’

Other stuff

‘A father's diary of grief: Day 16’. ‘…we are not done transforming experiences into memories. We will carry that feeling of loss everywhere we go, but we can pack it up with our sunscreen and garishly colored garments and take it places we’ve never been.’
‘And Then My Phone Buzzed’ by . ‘For now, we’ve settled on a situation in which interruptibility is a necessary condition for modern life.’

What I wrote this week:

‘This is what you can do to help the church’. ‘It was on a training run this weekend that I realized I need to remember the thing I tell everyone else. The thing that God tells me: You are not alone.’
‘Follow us as we follow Jesus’. ‘How to become formed in the Christian faith by practicing the way of Jesus within our context … and create new digital pathways for membership.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 10:57:40 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Invoking the Lord’ by . ‘there is something about the character of God as providing grace and a power that humans are incapable of self-generating. God, because of His character, has to intervene with humanity in a way that provides grace.’
‘What does forgiveness weigh?’ by . ‘The country roads are quiet. My mind is not. It is replaying yesterday’s events. I find myself talking to myself out loud.’

Church stuff

‘Uncomfortable Saints for Fragile Times: Charles de Foucauld’. by . ‘Vocation, in his life, is not validated by success. It is validated by fidelity. Faithfulness does not require proof. Love does not need to be seen to be real.’
‘Why Do Priests Wear Stoles?’ by . ‘It symbolizes not ego, but that the priest is yoked to the table — they have vowed to serve Christ and his people through a eucharistic ministry.’

Other stuff

‘The Church Lady Elegy’, by . ‘And when you lost a loved one, it was these church ladies who organized the committee that overloaded your front porch with casseroles. Which is exactly what happened when my father died’.
‘Day Trip: Saturday Morning’ by . ‘The line between Friday night and Saturday morning…’

What I wrote this week:

‘Salt and Light’ - God calls us to be steadfast and joyful.’ ‘The New Covenant - our new relationship with God is about returning to our identity, and not getting caught up in the rules. NOT because the rules aren’t important, but because the rules - the Law - points back to our identity as God’s people.
This is who we’re meant to be.’
‘Fasting as a ‘weapon of love’. ‘Fasting is our call to spiritual endurance training. To hearing God’s voice, and nothing else. To remembering our dependence on God, and our preparation for standing on holy ground.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Subscribe to any (or all!) of these publications to be part of innovative ministry for the future of church.

The WHY:

The WHAT:

The HOW:

The WHERE:

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 12:04:31 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Do It Scared’, by . ‘I’m no longer praying for confidence; now in the face of this new adventure, I pray for courage’.
‘My Daughter Died’, by . ‘I could stay in bed all day, but I get up to be with God. He gets me out of bed.’

Church stuff

‘To Fill the Church with Wonder’ by . ‘I was transfixed by the scene, lost in the moment. The still, cold air. The silence more eloquent than any sound. The cloud sailing across the heavens carrying a secret flame. Only a divine power could carve out such beauty in the night.’
‘Formed for Faithfulness (4): When We Lost Our Story’ by . ‘Faithfulness meant inhabiting tradition responsibly, trusting that what had formed us might also form those who came after us. This temporal confidence has frayed. Anglican history is now approached in sharply divergent ways: by some as a compromised legacy to be escaped; by others as incidental to an appeal to Scripture unmediated by tradition.’

Other stuff

‘A Guileless, Unguarded World’, by . ‘What I hear when I read these lines is more melancholy, a sigh of sadness. For an innocence that’s been lost, and for a world that feels far, far back in the rear view mirror.’
‘How Long Should This Sentence Be? Bad Question’ by . ‘We can all groan with the anticipation of reading prose as exciting as boneless, skinless, unadorned, microwaved chicken breast. Never mind that White didn’t even follow his own advice; Simon mentions a sentence in his beloved children’s classic Stuart Little that runs an ambitious 107 words.’

What I wrote this week:

‘Your church will not be here in 2031’. ‘The traditional congregational model assumes independent ‘islands’ of full-service, in-house religious ecosystems. That’s not the way the world works anymore. That’s not the way the church works anymore.’
‘Those who are “without a shepherd... pen themselves up in their own sheepfolds.”’ ‘We cannot be Christian alone. Jesus called disciples from the very beginning, and we always learn to be followers of Jesus by being in community with others. For encouragement, support - and correction.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Subscribe to any (or all!) of these publications to be part of innovative ministry for the future of church.

The WHY:

The WHAT:

The HOW:

The WHERE:

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:48:28 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Jesus. Jesus. Jesus’ by . ‘Jesus rarely does what I think he should do. Instead, Jesus goes, following the haters that more recently shouted in opposition than worshiped at his feet.’
‘The Priority of Preaching’ by . ‘…the preacher is one who announces what God’s Word reveals about his character; his actions through history, culminating in the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus; and his providential control of all of creation, up to and including the judgment that he will one day exercise over each one of us.’

Church stuff

‘What makes this work so hard is why this space exists’ by ‘Ministry does not scale cleanly into fractions. A 1/2 or 3/4 role still carries full-time emotional, cognitive, and relational demands. Schedules are inflexible. Emergencies don’t respect job descriptions. And the remaining income often has to be earned in work entirely outside one’s specialty. What looks like flexibility on paper becomes precarity in practice.’
‘The Sunday Worship Scandal No One Wants to Talk About’ by ‘The question remains, simple and stubborn: does it matter how we worship? And if it matters, does it matter only in the sense of personal taste, or in the deeper sense of obedience?’

Other stuff

‘Pep Talk’ by . ‘It’s hard to write, feeling like you’re bringing a pen to a gunfight. But can poems remind us of our humanity? I think they can, and I think we desperately need a reminder.’
‘My Fashion Era’ by . ‘ … maybe that’s the invitation for all of us. To stop hiding the parts that once felt dangerous. To trust that what is truly us is not a threat to love, holiness, or belonging, but the very place where they begin.’

What I wrote this week:

‘The message about the cross is foolishness.’ ‘Sometimes, being a Christian can make us feel helpless. But if we can stand to bear these moments, if we can be there without being able to fix them and without moving away, we will find that something, something we don’t really know is there for us, moving us forward, leading us towards the light, bringing us home.’
‘Hearts up! Where the Practice comes from.’ ‘It’s pre-denominational. virtually every Christian tradition retained the Sursum Corda, even when they disagreed on everything else.’

And finally…

This is what I call “The Iron Law of Church Growth.” If you have a bunch of gray-haired folks and not many kids, it’s almost impossible to pull out of that death spiral.

Ryan Burge

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Subscribe to any (or all!) of these publications to be part of innovative ministry for the future of church.

The WHY:

The HOW:

The WHAT:

The WHERE:

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:41:59 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘why you should(n't) smoke’ by . ‘Smoking is not inherently sinful and it is not inherently holy. Smoking is a kind of mirror, a lens, that reveals what we think about the body, desires, and self-control.’
‘Why Do We Run From the Things That Heal Us?’ by . ‘For pastors, leaders, and fellow believers, there is a lesson in that 30-minute drive: People don’t drive further for better facilities; they drive further for better grace.’

Church stuff

‘5 Things Evangelicals Get Wrong About Mainline Churches’ by . ‘There’s tremendous power in liturgy precisely because it doesn’t depend on your emotional state in the moment. On days when you can’t find words, the liturgy speaks for you. On days when you doubt everything, the creed reminds you what the church has always believed. On days when you feel isolated, the responsive readings connect you to every other person praying the same prayers.’
‘Why I Walked into an Episcopal Church, and Why I Stayed’ by . ‘none of it seemed to have anything explicitly to do with Jesus. Except that it did. Not in the loud or declarative ways I remembered from childhood. Not through altar calls or certainty or pressure. But in the quieter, harder-to-name way—in hospitality without conditions, curiosity without agenda, and a community that made room for me before asking me to become anything else.’

Other stuff

‘My Oura Ring Says Everything Will Be Fine’ by . ‘These ratings, covering a dozen odd contributing factors like sleep efficiency, body temperature, activity levels, and resting heart rate, contribute to a gestalt score called “readiness.” Readiness for what, exactly?’
‘The Great Global Cafe Conspiracy: Why Does Everything Look the Same?’ by .

What I wrote this week:

‘Come and See.’ ‘Jesus IS where we abide. ‘Abide in my love’ he says, over and over, especially in the Gospel of John. Peace doesn’t have to just pass us by. We can live there.’

‘Hearts up!’ Where the Practice comes from.’ ‘The Sursum Corda (Latin for ‘Hearts up!’) is one of the oldest, most universal elements in Christian worship.
It dates back to at least the 3rd century and appears in virtually every Christian tradition: Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Subscribe to any (or all!) of these publications to be part of innovative ministry for the future of church.

The WHY:

The HOW:

The WHAT:

The WHERE:

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:05:55 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Wake Up Dead Man’ by . ‘… the impatience belongs to us, and to Blanc. Father Jud is remembering who he is, who Louise reminds him he is simply by assuming that is who he is. He’s a priest, after all. After that scene, things shift. It feels now that the murder mystery was a plot device for something else entirely.’
‘Behold, the Contemplated One’ by . ‘John, the great desert preacher, surprisingly then shows us how Christ changes him by less words not more. He is an evangelist, he is a witness, but he lives this out in the word “behold”.’

Church stuff

‘Christianity as vocation’ by . ‘The young barista passing me my coffee said, “I am catching the vision. You have good priest vibes.”’
‘This is Not Ministry’ by . ‘When you structure relationship, you’ve created something else. You’ve created a program. And programs, by their nature, replace organic relationship with structured interaction. They replace presence with schedule, response with curriculum, mutuality with designated roles.’

Other stuff

‘My Best Friends Are Endurance Athletes’ by . ‘It’s because triathlon has a way of stripping away the fluff. It compresses life into a simple, honest question: What do you do when it gets hard?’
‘What your boss wishes he could tell you (If he wasn’t afraid of hurting your feelings)’. by . ‘Your career growth is your responsibility.’

What I wrote this week:

‘The $135 million church building no one can use’. ‘Not even this nakedly ambitious show about nakedly ambitious people can cover up that what we do in ministry is worth more than any measure of worldly success.’
‘Bodily Prayer: Why it matters today. ‘God didn’t just save our souls. God took on human form, entered fully into the physical realm, and redeemed the whole person - the whole world. This means our bodies and souls are not separate entities. We are whole beings, made in the image of God.’

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Subscribe to any (or all!) of these publications to be part of innovative ministry for the future of church.

The WHY:

The HOW:

The WHAT:

The WHERE:

Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:24:06 GMT

Welcome to a new year of Good Stuff!

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘On Being Radiant’ by . ‘We bring our gifts of God to God, only for him to remind us that all gifts come from him, before returning those gifts to us as the sacred bread and wine of his body and blood.’
‘The Missing Piece of Discipleship’ by . ‘There are certain things about following Christ that can only be learned in obedience.’

Church stuff

‘What is Community, Actually?’ by . ‘Fullness of life does not exist apart from community—that is a fact.’
‘Can the Decline of Christian Churches in North American be Reversed?’ by . ‘I want to start 2026 with a series of articles on the current and ongoing decline of Christian Churches in North America with a particular focus on the Episcopal Church (TEC).’

Other stuff

‘Seeing the deer’ by . ‘When I see the deer, I feel a sense of wonder, and I stop. It is a form of worship, of contemplation, a prayer, and, for me, at least, it restores my hope.’
‘Providence’ by . ‘..even though you’re stuck in a freefall, just remember this: There is a net beneath you. Providence.’

What I wrote this week:

‘Trexo: a gym for your soul ORIENTATION.‘ Here’s the truth: You can’t think your way into relationship with God. You have to practice your way in.
‘The lives we live.’ A new year, a new call from God.

And finally…

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My favorite 'Good Stuff' blogs (part 2)

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:29:37 GMT

I offered my first ‘Good Stuff’ blog in September.

I was already reading over 250 Substack publications a week - well, skimming, at least - and I found so much amazing good stuff! Especially about the church, life with God, and how to live a meaningful life. And running.

I couldn’t help but share! Others seemed to like the recommendations, and this has become one of my favorite things to do.

So I thought I’d do a roundup of my favorite ‘Good Stuff’ posts for the last two weeks of the year.

I started with the idea of doing a ‘top ten’ - but there’s simply no way I can narrow my favorite writing down to just 10 articles (even in only 4 months!). I’m so grateful to be part of this virtual community of brilliant, faithful writers.

So here - still in random order - are the final 15 of my favorite thirty blogs of 2025.

Here’s to 2026!

How To . . . Build A Community.

‘Parties are actually the means by which a community creates itself, and weaves together its unique culture and traditions.’

Keep Christianity Weird

‘Weird Beliefs, Normal Practices. Too often, churches have it reversed: they’re organizationally weird and theologically bland.’

Why Lifeless Rituals Are Better Than None

‘Yet, surprisingly, the best method for sustaining spiritual rituals has a lot in common with the best methods for weight loss: rather than committing ourselves to radical, over-the-top diets, we should instead simply integrate long-term, sustainable changes.’

Why Therapists Should Pay Attention to the Brené Brown Rebrand

‘Brené’s move from therapist-adjacent thinker to leadership consultant isn’t a sellout move. It’s adaptive.

She recognized that vulnerability, empathy, and courage, the so-called “soft skills” of therapy, have become strategic assets in an economy built on fragmentation, acceleration and burnout.’

On Marriage

‘As best I can, I am living into the role of the elder. I’m not exactly old—and I’m not exactly young either. I’ve been married for almost three decades. I’ve raised five children. I’ve seen a few things. I may not capably work a TV remote (as some of my young friends can attest), but I can counsel you on weightier matters.’

How Many Members Should a Church Have? Lessons from the Religion Census

‘What’s the simplest explanation for this phenomenon? Membership has declined much faster than congregations have closed.’

Why we’re tempted to - and shouldn’t - embrace decline

‘But here’s the problem: what if your church’s decline isn’t so much because of vast, tectonic social forces beyond your control so much as poor preaching or an unwillingness to evangelize or the lack of a good visitor follow-up program?’

Faith is Transformational, Not Transactional

‘…those other nine lepers loved Jesus for what he could do for them. Not for his own sake.

For the tenth leper, Jesus himself had become his heart’s desire. His faith was not a set of ideas. It was a relationship that changed him from the inside out.’

Let Them Enemies Rest Too

‘There is never a time to stop our efforts to win the ideological argument. It is all battle. All the time. And the reason is that we know if we give them a moment’s rest, they could come along and win the argument. So we keep our guards up constantly.

But the Sabbath declares that even your enemies need a day of rest from you.’

Why I Didn’t Walk Away...

‘And slowly I began to understand that walking away from God would mean turning my back on fifty years of moments where I was convinced He had stepped in, had intervened, had made Himself known.’

Rooted in Peace - Finding Rhythm and Contentment in the Liminal Space

‘So, with remarkable peace, I've created my new rule of life: Seek like Mary, serve like Martha, but surrender like Lazarus.’

The Sermon That Ended My Preaching Career

‘Lately, however, something’s been shifting in me. My feet seem to be turning back to those old paths. After years of sleeping in on Sundays, I’m attending a local church, talking more God talk, and this time finding others on the same road.’

Go To Church Anyway.

‘Go to church. Go to church in person. Go to church even if it’s two degrees below outside with an even colder wind chill. Go to church even if it’s sunny and 80 degrees outside. Go to church even if you feel tired. Go to church even if your life is a mess. Go to church even if you don’t feel like it.

Just. Go. To. Church.’

Christ in the Neighbourhood of Chaos

‘It’s our broken grasp on humanity that needs baptism to recover it, so maybe part of the faith of baptism is trusting that Christ knows what’s good for us and the confession that we don’t.’

Repairing Tiny Crowns

‘This year, I opened the box and felt the weight of it in my gut. At least it’s not the shepherd, I thought, but the symbolism was unmistakable: a king without his crown, an angel without her wing.’

and finally…

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My favorite 'Good Stuff' blogs (part 1)

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 11:45:41 GMT

I offered my first ‘Good Stuff’ blog in September.

So I thought I’d do a roundup of my favorite ‘Good Stuff’ posts for the last two weeks of the year.

So here - in random order - are the first 15 of my favorite thirty blogs of 2025. I’ll share the rest on New Year’s Eve…

When You Can’t Afford Your Secrets Anymore

‘There is a fine line between humbled and humiliated. But wow…you know when you’ve crossed it.’

Finding Joy in a Sad World

by
’Joy as holy rebellion.’

What Columbine Taught Me About Grief, Prayer, and Change

‘And what stands out in my memory is not anger. Not rage. Not endless political debate. What I remember most is grief.’

The Bible We Almost Had (And How the World Would Be Different)

‘Whole streams of theology — apocalyptic end-times, sacrificial atonement, faith vs. works — rose or fell based on a handful of close calls.’

Death asks the bigger question

‘We can, on our braver days, try emptying ourselves for others, moving outwards towards them in trust rather than withdrawing into ourselves from fear.’

PROTECTING THE INSTITUTION

‘If churches want to recover trust, they must do the opposite of what institutions instinctively do. They need to center on the vulnerable, bring issues into the light, and hold leaders accountable, even when it hurts.’

It’s all a lie: you DON’T have to be “original”

‘…this unoriginality didn’t stop him from writing his beautiful book, and in its lack of uniqueness, I felt uniquely seen. No longer a fraud but a “beholder” of the beauty which I was invited to grieve and cultivate.’

Let’s Talk About Sex

T’o me these aren’t questions about sexuality (we can ask the same questions about donuts, drinking, church attendance, and exercise), but really speak to the deeper issues about how we live our faith and our naturally rebellious hearts and desires. Will we do what we want when we want to (regardless of what that is)? Or is there some larger ethic that we should follow?’

Dear Kids...

‘Here’s a secret of life: some of the best things in life are not necessarily “fun”. I don’t know why grownups talk about fun all the time to children, because even your parents know this. It’s why they brought you here instead of to the circus. You are here to work.’

Making the Daily Office your friend.

‘the Daily Office gives you a great way to keep situated in God’s time, rather than secular time. It is a practice of re-enchantment.’

Let’s Get Dressed Up And Go Out

‘We’re not exactly young anymore but obviously we’re still sexy.’

The Geography of Belonging

‘Belonging is not comfort. It is alignment. Not ease, but resonance.’

The Three Layers of Community

‘As a community centered on Jesus, our directional aim is toward a life of divine union with God and others, becoming a social witness to the world of what the kingdom might look like.’

A Theology of Running

‘Even if you run by yourself, you are not alone. Running connects you with every other runner, a great cloud of witnesses, a community bound by dedication and direction rather than pace.’

Are We Ready?

‘We must be willing to go too. We must be willing to embrace a new way of being. Our sacred tree is good and a beautiful place to provide sanctuary; there are also many who are unwilling to fly, land or roost here in these branches.’

and finally…

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Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:29:00 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘return to the path’ by . Bear fruit worthy of repentance .
‘Advent for those at the end of their rope’ by . ‘God is with us. It is all grace’.

Church stuff

‘Memories of Santa Lucia, on her Day’ by . How to emulate the saints.
‘Making the Daily Office your friend’ by . ‘A practice of re-enchantment.’

Other stuff

‘The Promise’, by . It’s pretty much God stuff, but that’s ok. She’s the OG of spiritual writing, and I love her.
‘Let's Get Dressed Up And Go Out’ by . I love poetry. I even love bad poetry - because at least people are trying to open their souls. This - this is good poetry. SO rare. So beautiful.

What I wrote this week:

‘3. The future of church is post-denominational’. Counting down my most popular blogs of the year.
‘The Longest Night’. Why ‘going through the motions’ of our faith can be a good thing.

And finally…

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Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:38:47 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘My Christmas Bicycle’ by . The Messiah does not come as we expect…
‘Advent Day 12: God cannot give what’s not there’ by . Peace is God with us. Nothing else. It’s that simple.

Church stuff

‘The Church Needs Yoga’ by . I am on record as completely agreeing with spiritual stretching. And I like this concept - where is the church rigid? Where is it stretching? I have some different answers, but I think this is a great tool for insight.
‘December 6 is a favorite feast day’ by . ‘Advent is not a season of sentimentality. It is resistance disguised as candlelight.’

Other stuff

‘When Anxiety Has a Floor Plan’ by . I’m a huge fan of Systems Theory, and its application to church. Hoff uses it with therapy to talk about the ‘architecture’ of the system. I have many of the same thoughts about ministry: what is changing, how it needs to be changed, and what our part in it is.
‘The Geography of Belonging’ by . It’s not the particular person or place, it’s what we allow to unfold. As with the ‘architecture’ of anxiety, I love the ‘geography’ of belonging.

What I wrote this week:

‘Stop the world, I want to get off!’ was the sermon I didn’t even preach this week because I’m dealing with the winter crud.
‘4. He forgave the unforgivable after hearing my sermon’. Counting down my top 5 blogs of the year.

And finally…

I’ve just added ‘Type 2 fun’ to my vocabulary…

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Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:35:05 GMT

‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Who am I beyond what I create?’ by . I appreciate the honesty, and I love that Eric found his center through spiritual practice.
‘To Wrestle with God’ by . ‘Faith isn’t a religious formula but the engagement of the whole self’.

Church stuff

‘The Church Is Full of Therapists and Mentors but Starving for Pastors’ by . A very clear description of mentors, therapists, and pastors - and how all of our work is important, but different.
‘The Three Layers of Community’ by . We all want community. What kind are we looking for?

Other stuff

‘The Real Off Season’ by . There’s just so much overlap between being a minister and being an athlete…
‘Repairing Tiny Crowns’ by . Grief, repair, and perspective.

What I wrote this week:

‘We’ve hired some new trainers’. They’ve got 1,500 years of experience.
‘We have a mystery on our hands’. The case of the missing meatloaf…

And finally…

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Where's the Good Stuff this week?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 10:58:35 GMT

NO Good Stuff next week!

(well, obviously there will be lots of Good Stuff: turkey - and if you’re like me, a Turkey Trot - and other holiday goodness).

But I’m taking a break from the Good Stuff on Friday, 11/28, so I can partake in Thanksgiving good stuff! 🦃

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

‘Fire Insurance for the Afterlife?’ by . Does fear of death correlate with belief in the afterlife? It’s kind of a tricky question.
‘The Tried and True and Unsurprising Surefire Way to Find Happiness’ by . I could ruin it and give you the short answer right here - but I think it’s worth the whole fascinating read.

Church stuff

‘The Church and the News’ by . Getting politics mixed up with our religion is nothing new. They were doing it way back in 17th century England.
‘What Wyoming’s Frontier Churches Can Teach Us About Planting Today’ by The rugged spirit of the can-do west is part of it. But funding and denominational support are, too.

Other stuff

‘I went Live on five different platforms and this is what I learned’ by . A digital minister with an entertaining take on what gets attention and why as we try to share the Gospel online.
‘Why Companies Make Obviously Sh***y Decisions’ by . I find this business analysis so interesting in terms of the church. When I think that church could be more like a business, this is what I’m thinking about - are we asking the kind of questions that are likely to lead us out of the places where we’re stuck?

What I wrote this week:

Vigil. Don’t sleep through your life. Join Trexo: the gym for your soul this Advent.
‘So you want to start a denomination…’ Is the way out of institutional collapse... another institution?

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Subscribe to any (or all!) of these publications to be part of innovative ministry for the future of church.