It has been several years now, but I remember it vividly. My mother, who in her declining years spent much time in the hospital, was back in a private room in Rush’s Hospital in my hometown, Meridian, Miss. She was…
Reflecting upon a new opportunity to minister to senior adults
In every job interview since I graduated from seminary, when asked the question, “What are your long-term career goals?” I have always answered, “Directing a spiritual care program with older adults at a retirement community or in a memory care…
Confronting our violent culture with an engaged spirituality
Realism, “the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly,” compels us to acknowledge we live in a ceaslessly violent time, evidenced by weekly, if not daily, volatile events. The…
The Jesus Room
The Jesus Room lies in the bowels of Richmond’s cavernous First Baptist Church, one of those stately old churches that takes up most of a city block. It’s a part of the basement floor of the church, comprising a community…
Post-evangelical snapshots
Everywhere I go, I meet a surging community of post-evangelicals. I would like to offer readers a few snapshots from half a year of travel. Little Rock, March 30: I speak to the annual NASW social workers conference in downtown….
Do complementarian men do better? A response to Nancy Pearcey
There’s no need to debate complementarianism or egalitarianism when it comes to marriage, says Nancy Pearcey, as she promotes her new book The Toxic War on Masculinity. Conservative, churchgoing men do best, she claims — and complementarians do as well…
An out-of-the-box lesson from Barbie
My girlfriend and I went to see the Barbie movie a couple of weeks ago. We expected the movie just to be laughs and giggles because we thought it was a kids’ movie with a lighthearted story. However, that was…
Anthony, Aldean, Dylan and Guthrie
First there was Jason Aldean topping the Billboard Hot 100 with “Try That in a Small Town.” Then, two weeks ago, Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” became the first song ever to top the Billboard Top 100 by…
Four things the SBC Executive Committee should do right now to address clergy sex abuse
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee will meet next Monday in Nashville. Here are four things it could do to address clergy sex abuse. All are within its own power and could be done without bumping up against church autonomy….
Bruce Springsteen is a fraud, and so are we
Bruce Springsteen confesses: “I made it all up. … I’ve never held an honest job in my entire life. I’ve never done any hard labor. I’ve never worked nine to five. … I come from a boardwalk town that is…
Women crying out in the wilderness in Tennessee
Runners gathered Sept. 1 to participate in “Let’s Finish Liza’s Run” in Memphis to honor the life and remember the death of Eliza Fletcher. She was killed one year ago, allegedly by Cleotha Abston Henderson, who will stand trial. When…
The night I stopped believing in substitutionary blood atonement
Almost two decades ago, during a combined Holy Thursday/Good Friday worship service, I told a true story from the Holocaust. The story involved a Polish army sergeant named Franciszek Gajowniczek and a Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe. The Saint of…