Most of my adult life, I have questioned the notion of “Good Friday.” How can the day on which the Son of God was murdered be called “good”? I never would call Sept. 30, the day my father died suddenly…
Why I’ll remember 2021 as ‘The Year with Two Easters’
I may refer to 2020 as “The Year Without an Easter.” That is certainly how it felt to me, at least. I had been serving as pastor of Ardmore Baptist Church for less than seven months before the global pandemic…
Holy Week 2021: Justice, gospel and cups of cold water
On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Ala., for leading an “unlawful” protest in the city. That same day, a group of eight clergymen including five bishops (Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist), a Presbyterian, a…
Through Scripture, understanding that my speech is a form of prayer
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” — Galatians 3:28 “Pray without ceasing.” —1 Thessalonians 5:17 During the past several…
This Holy Week, let us ‘go in peace’
Sam Baker did not start writing music until after he nearly died. In 1986, he was on a train in Peru headed to Machu Picchu. He was 31. A bomb planted by the Peruvian terrorist group the Shining Path exploded…
Seeing gun violence as a pro-life issue
Not many people get argued into thinking differently, but experiences and stories move us, especially when we have the humility to listen and to view the world from a different lens, from someone else’s eyes. I (Shane) grew up with…
A Holy Week reflection on justice and the Cross
On Palm Sunday in my Bible study class at First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., I was slated to teach this parable of Jesus. It is one of my favorites. Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to…
This Good Friday, I’ll be at the hanging tree
We cannot on Good Friday disconnect the crucified Jesus from what Ignacio Ellacuria, Salvadoran martyr, called “the crucified peoples of history.” American Christians must place the Cross alongside the lynching tree, as James Cone makes unforgettably clear in his last…
The link between the Atlanta shootings and purity culture
The shootings that happened in Atlanta on March 16 were a needless tragedy — the loss of innocent lives at the hands of yet another gunman, where women of color once again were the victims. While lack of gun control…