It starts in late September with the pricking of my skin and spirit; autumn creeps in. Resembling Tom Fury, the lightning rod salesman from Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, bringing with it “a storm like a great beast…
Jesus scares or Jesus cares?
After the violent attack on her husband Paul, Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying she and her family are heartbroken and traumatized but are grateful for the prayers and warm wishes they have received. Her husband is improving. Then she…
Bigotry is Donald Trump’s biggest moral failure
Donald Trump was publicly accused of bigotry in a lawsuit almost a half century ago. In response, the former president’s first open denial of racism ever to appear in The New York Times came on Oct. 16, 1973. He was responding to…
What I’ve learned from Evolving Faith
October always has been my favorite month of the year. I celebrate my wedding anniversary and my only child’s birthday in this memory-filled month. During October, my spirit soars as I bask in the splendor of trees aglow with autumnal…
This is Halloween: Seven ways to do something good this Halloween
“This Is Halloween” is the opening song to Tim Burton’s 1993 stop-motion animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. The movie is set in Halloween Town, a city where the community focuses on Halloween, under the leadership of the Pumpkin King,…
Faith communities must claim the courage ‘to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope’
In these troubling days, I am thinking of these heartening words,“Take these broken wings and learn to fly,” the lyrics of Paul McCarney’s song “Blackbird.” Many people from many walks of life sensed hope in the song McCartney wrote more…
‘As it was in the days of Noah’: Questions for Christians, 2022
“As it was in the days of Noah,” Jesus said, “so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the…
‘To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance’: Responding to the rising tide of antisemitism
On Aug. 18, 1790, President George Washington wrote a letter to the Hebrew congregation of Newport, R.I. Washington was responding to a letter from Moses Seixas, warden of the Congregation Yeshuat Israel of Newport. In his letter, Seixas had expressed…
Strengthening your EQ: 8 tips for managing your emotions
In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, there’s a line that says, “I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” In…
The pandemic is not over for those with long COVID
“The pandemic is over.” President Biden’s words a few weeks ago are dangerously false. They are also short sighted. Since we first heard the phrase “novel coronavirus,” our focus has been on deaths. Yes, deaths are an important metric with…
A Southern Baptist saint: Gratitude for the life of Leslie Jordan
When I saw the tweet that read “Comedian Leslie Jordan dead at 67,” I gasped. Then immediately, I felt a tear forming in my eyes — and I never cry. I began scrolling until I found an article that confirmed…
A plea to people of faith on behalf of our LGBTQ friends
In 1996, an LGBTQ activist in Hawai`i somehow convinced me that it would be a “great idea” to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee was deciding on whether or not to bring an amendment defining marriage before Hawai`i…