June 19, 1865, is the day when the last enslaved persons in Galveston, Texas, received news that they had been emancipated. Juneteenth, as this day has been called, commemorates in the hearts and minds of Black folks the official end…
The Tulsa Race Massacre is personal to me, and remembering is a holy act
1921 is personal to me. It is personal for two reasons. 1921 was the year of my mother’s birth in Muskogee, Okla. Had she lived, she would be 100 years old this coming September. My mom used to say, “If…
Rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over
There is a lot of time to think while sitting in the hospital — at least intermittently between all the doctor’s visits and texting the grandparents and friends about what is going on with the kiddo. The body is amazing…
Clergy mental health is a choice between life and death
I took a leave of absence in 2020, and it saved my life. I serve as pastor of a church in Oklahoma, and it’s been a heck of a year. Even before the pandemic, we navigated painful staff changes and…
It’s time to live like mystics
I spent the pandemic lamenting things I could not do — no restaurants, no movie theaters, no museums. I was excited when I got to go back to my favorite Mexican place, the neighborhood movie theater and the Metropolitan Museum…
How Karl Barth speaks to our post-pandemic needs
The pandemic has changed us. At a minimum, the last 15 months have awakened us to our vulnerabilities. So as the post-pandemic world begins to peek over the horizon, we’ve also become painfully aware of the deepening and widening division…
Is it now illegal to mention the Tulsa Race Massacre in the classrooms of Oklahoma?
On June 1, 1921, the Greenwood district of Tulsa, home to more than 10,000 Black residents, was intentionally destroyed by a white mob. An estimated 300 Black residents died; close to 1,000 were seriously injured. Every home in the 30-block…
Ethics at the end of life: Which moral vision shall govern at the end of life?
This is the final in a four-part series on ethics at the end of life. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had this to say about the end of life: Why, aside from the demands of religion, (is it) more praiseworthy for…
Memorial Day: An occasion for empathy and understanding
If you’re of a certain age, you may recall hearing Memorial Day called by another name, Decoration Day. And if the old-timers who mentioned it had their stories straight, the term originated as a call to decorate the graves of…
Care for veterans means supporting the living too
You can blame this editorial on my mother’s 20-year-old Ford Explorer. I responded to the sudden flash of the engine light as I was recently driving Interstate 20 in northwest Louisiana. I darted to her highly utilized mechanic, who continues…
Like a good neighbor, this app’s for you
At their best, neighborhood social media sites can provide a good laugh. Some of the distractions experienced by our neighbors can be quite humorous at times. However, it sometimes causes me to wonder if these people live in my neighborhood…
Memorial Day: Courage, tears and gratitude
In the United States, Memorial Day belongs to those who died serving in the military. While my dad survived two wars, we often were reminded that many didn’t. He always kept up with his “buddies” at reunions. We didn’t hear…