The alarm goes off long before you want it to. The snooze button is not worth it, but it is tempting. You have to get to work. Or you have to get to work at home. Or you have learned…

As we drive to my parents’ house, we see that the neighbors have a big sign in the yard. A normal yard sign in Mississippi is Congratulations Class of 2017 or Bitter Divorce Sale. I am suddenly self-conscious about our…

The New York Times has too many pages. I download more podcasts than I can play. I cannot read half of what my friends post on Facebook — particularly one recipe-happy friend. I cannot hear, read, or notice a significant…

Try to imagine the church business meetings that made this happen. During the early 1800s, the network of churches and individuals helping those escaping slavery was known as the Underground Railroad. My congregation, Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., was “the…

Dear President Trump: I am sure you are getting letters from groups that feel like they are being mistreated. Muslims, Hispanics, African Americans, women, Jews, the poor, and the LGBTQ community have legitimate concerns, but have you thought about how you…

Two years ago, Carol and I started attending a nearby African Methodist Episcopal Church. One other white person came from time to time. I liked it more when she was not there, because I enjoyed saying, “We were the only…

Shivering, wet guests file into the fellowship hall. It is cold and raining on the Thursday before Christmas. Two hundred homeless people have come to church for chicken spaghetti. I pass a marker around my table. We fill out nametags….

Jewish synagogues have been defaced with swastikas. Latina women have been threatened. Muslim women have been forced to remove their hijabs. On Veterans Day, Marie Boyle, a U.S. army veteran from the Philippines, was told to “Go back to Mexico.”…