The Simeons and Annas keep the faith when we cannot. Their praises become our praises. Their disappointments reflect ours. Their hopes become our hopes. Their constant murmured prayers help sustain us.
Three years after Standing Rock: another oil spill and reminders of indigenous peoples’ fight for justice
Ignoring indigenous voices has become the social norm in the United States, even among its faith communities.
Hope in ritual: A Baptist prays the Daily Office
The Daily Office takes out that deciding factor of what to pray, how to pray, when to pray and allows me to go through the entirety of scripture, even the parts I’d rather forget were there.
‘Prophetic or pastoral?’ A trio of black women preachers expose this false dichotomy
In American Christianity today, many pastors and other ministry leaders in the dominant culture are afraid of being prophetically pastoral. As a result, the Church and the Gospel suffer.
After creating the universe, God took a nap: Why we need Sabbath rest
Western Christians today have a hard time celebrating Sabbath. That needs to change – for our sakes and for the sake of creation.
In a world of words, who or what is the Word of God?
In examining how we discern the Word of God, I discovered Julia Foote, a 19th-century African American preacher and evangelist. She demonstrates that everything in our public life is touched by God’s Word(s).
The scattering yet unifying Spirit and the place of LGBTQ persons in the Church
How do we discern how the Spirit works in our particularities for the sake of the larger mission? Today I imagine the Spirit’s fire would fall down on LGBTQ folk, enabling them to speak to God’s testifying work in their lives and in their communities.
Blessed are the foolish, for they are key to healthy churches
Signs of a healthy church are not necessarily a polished worship service, a jazzy children’s program or excellent preaching, but a place where fools are welcome and celebrated. This church is led by the most foolish one of all, the God who voluntarily became human to dwell among other foolish humans, so that they might become God’s children.
A case for making the sign of the cross — even for us Baptists (and other Protestants)
What would it look like for Baptists and other Protestants to recover and reclaim the ancient tradition of making the sign of the cross? Lent might be an opportune time to find out.