Editor’s note: Joshua Goocey teaches a faith and finance class at Wake Forest Divinity School. He is a former pastor and now runs a wealth management firm that advises individuals, families and small businesses on how to build generational wealth….
This year, view your church through the lens of a newcomer
A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from a friend seeking a reference for a place for him and his family to worship. His family is living in a suburb about half an hour from the capital city…
Sittin’ up with the dead at Bubba-Doo’s
Some regional traditions are tough to explain if someone isn’t already familiar. So many of the things folks do in any area are easiest learned when we simply grow into them. For instance, in many parts of the country horse…
The gospel as epiphanic moment
In her short story Revelation, Flannery O’Connor writes of the great judgment: Until the sun slipped finally behind the tree line, Mrs. Turpin remained there with her gaze bent to them as if she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving knowledge….
A New Year’s resolution from Gandhi and a three-word movie subtitle
Gandhi helped free me from prison. Now there’s some fun with syntax and the ambiguity of a preposition. That sentence has two potential meanings: Either Gandhi helped me get out of prison, or, while he was in prison, Gandhi helped…
2022 was a year of celebration
Throughout 2022, I spent the year learning about various holiday traditions and seeking to gain a greater understanding of what they teach us about God. My theme verse for the year was Psalm 145:7: “They celebrate your abundant goodness and…
How to show Greg Abbott and other Grinches the true spirit of Christmas
The governor of the state where I live proved himself to be a Grinch of the first order Christmas Eve — and apparently a coward too. Three busloads of migrants were delivered outside the door of Vice President Kamala Harris’…
This Christmas, the Holy Spirit sounds like an oxygen machine to me
Don’t let my name fool you. One of my most redeeming qualities is being a realist, often named by others as pessimist. In the spirit of that title, or misplaced naming, I am unsure how I will stomach Christmas this…
All I want for Christmas is a little less schadenfreude and a little more freudenfreude
My worst course in college was German; thank God I needed only four semesters to graduate. But I am too well acquainted with the German word that describes a malady of the spirit, schadenfreude, our joy at another’s misfortune. It…
Perhaps your grief will not ‘ruin’ Christmas
We often perceive the holidays as a time of togetherness and joy, where we reunite with families and enjoy the presence of each other. However, what we do not talk about is the grief that often coincides with the Christmas…
I am part of the resistance
I am a part of the resistance. While I sense I am not all alone, I also sense my number is small, especially so in my own ecclesial family of moderate to progressive Baptists. Many of the current responses to…
Getting rid of Jesus: You don’t have to worry about room in the inn if you raze the inn
Charlotte’s westward expansion — beyond Uptown, Biddleville, Wesley Heights — was in full swing around 1924, when Julia Alexander and her family decided to subdivide and sell off her deceased father’s estate, called Enderly. The old farm would become the…