It seems that African American men who worked tirelessly to reverse the status of “the invisible man” (a term coined by Ralph Ellison) have found ways to keep women as invisible as possible in the leadership ranks of the church….
A modest proposal for imperiled pulpit plagiarists
Pulpit plagiarism has been making the news again. “Again” is the operative word. This is not new. A couple of friends, now in their 80s, recall making a wager about which swiped sermon a famous Baptist preacher/evangelist would deliver to…
Having COVID reentry anxiety? You’re not alone
In the last few weeks, I have been living a fully vaccinated, post-pandemic life. I have traveled, gone to the movies, eaten in restaurants without a mask. It feels like I am doing something just slightly rebellious but enjoyable, like…
I’m an infectious disease doctor: Here’s why pastors need to lead their flocks to be vaccinated
A local church is experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19. This in and of itself is not rant-worthy; it’s sad, but it hardly sets them apart. Except, as with most of the patients hospitalized nationwide with COVID, these patients are not…
My life as a bad baseball player and why you should get vaccinated
As a kid, I was a bad baseball player and always got stuck out in right field, where there’s less action happening and less chance I could mess up an important play. In these days of COVID vaccination drives, you…
Why do we obsess over single tragic events and ignore the greater peril?
Since the moment the 12-story Champlain Towers condominiums partially collapsed June 24 in Surfside, Fla., the tragedy has topped the news — hourly, daily, exhaustively. News outlets nationwide have breathlessly reported every updated body count, every revised tally of the…
Love him or hate him, but at least Joe Biden has returned us to a ‘normal’ presidency; can it last?
It has been a wonderful relief to many of us to encounter the sheer normality of the Biden presidency, which is now six months old. This is a president who proposes actual policies to address obvious public needs, negotiates with…
Life lessons from a red service station truck and the fade to pink
From 1957 until he retired, my Pop owned and operated a service station in Meridian, Miss. That occupation, life work and calling were scripted for him by the economic reality that he and most of his seven brothers left school…
Confessions of a good white guy
I still remember the hot, sticky spit sliding down my frozen face. School had just let out at the elementary school in Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The year was 1963, give or take. I was standing beside a big…