Can activism be an expression of faith? Can the practice of my faith, as an activist against violence and all the evils related to it, fulfill the Great Commandment? What might happen if people of faith intentionally examined the nature…
Lament should be the order of the day
Lament should be the order of the day. Yesterday, we began Black History Month with bomb threats made against at least 13 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) throughout the country. Unfortunately, that these threats coincide with the beginning of…
Why do we still wonder when violence happens?
Why do we wonder? That is an important question for God-folk like us. It is probably a question we ask regularly, or at least one we should ask frequently. After our first reactions of lament, anger and frustration at the…
‘A Change Is Gonna Come’: Ahmaud Arbery and the call to transform injustice
Sam Cooke said it best in soulful, somber song: “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Cooke wrote this song in the early 1960s as a protest to support the Civil Rights Movement. It was a volatile season for this country, as…
Roe v. Wade in real time
It was very late one night when my phone rang, the caller ID telling me this would be a crisis call. As a victim advocate, I had received hundreds of middle-of-the-night crisis calls over the years. For the sake of…
Another reminder why Christians must become advocates for vulnerable children
Caring for the well-being of the most vulnerable children among us should be an easy decision for people of faith. The church already knows the importance of its sacred calling to care for children, taking seriously the stark biblical warning…
Lady Liberty beckons us to ask hard questions in these days
In the year 1883, Poet Emma Lazarus wrote her sonnet, “The New Colossus,” to raise money for the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty would stand. The sonnet ends with the poignant, passionate words that were added to the…
Understanding the trauma and finding hope after the siege of the nation’s Capitol
As I reflect on the violent attack on our nation’s Capitol, words that continually linger in my mind are “trauma” and “hope.” Still, why would I write about the siege of the Capitol when so many have already written eloquently…
No more airtime, Mr. President!
I watch the news on television every day, more than once a day. In the past several months of election rancor, I often watched or listened all day. In that period of all-day news, I sometimes neglected the more weighty…
As the white mother of a black son, calls for racial justice evoke something deep within me
My son is now raising black sons of his own. He fears for them, as I feared for him when he was a child and now fear for my grandchildren.
Broken community in the face of pandemic: For me, social distancing is nothing new | #intimeslikethese
Millions are now experiencing the social distancing and isolation I have felt in the months following my kidney transplant. I hope they will also experience the kind of creative love and care my church offered me.
My 5-year wait on the kidney transplant list is nearly over. Two churches have carried me through
During this arduous journey, my current church and my former church have been the Church for me in countless ways, both tangible and imperceptible.