I can’t remember what it feels like to not be in pain. It’s been years since I’ve had the energy of a healthy person. The litany of physical symptoms that rage war in my body daily are a result of…
How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma
“How did you come to have a passion for social justice issues?” That was one of the questions put to me this week when the tables got turned and I was the interviewee instead of the interviewer. The answer immediately…
Finding charity amidst the chaos one year into the coronavirus pandemic
One year ago in The Christian Citizen, we published the first in a series of articles on ministry responses to the coronavirus pandemic. “Charity amidst the chaos—When coronavirus comes to your neighborhood,” is Bryan Jackson’s firsthand account of the arrival…
Maybe your church needs a minister of loneliness
I deliver Meals on Wheels on Fridays. My routes vary, but the people I serve tend to be older, low-income, often disabled, living alone. That fits the profile of a typical Meals on Wheels client: The program seeks to assist…
How slavery still shapes the world of white evangelical Christians
Without meaning to do so, Henry Louis Gates’ two-part series on “The Black Church” dramatically exposed the gaping chasm that divides the way Black Christians and privileged white Christians — especially white evangelicals — understand God, protest and politics. For…
Faith leaders call for an end to racial bullying in the Indiana legislature
Tension is at an all-time high in the Indiana General Assembly and the entire United States. The Ministerium, an Indiana statewide ministers’ organization, and other faith leaders across the United States are concerned. Attempted physical abuse and public bullying tactics…
One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics
When this column appears, it will be exactly one year since my last trip to the airport. One year since I lectured outside my own home or university. Just under one year since my Mercer classes went to Zoom for…
Why vote to fund something you won’t ever use?
Last fall, my hometown of Austin, Texas, put a monumental public transportation bond question on the ballot: light rail, tunnels underneath downtown, electric buses. Austin’s Capitol Metro called the plan “bold.” Another way to say that: “Billions.” Austin voters have…
Matter-of-fact statements about Scripture aren’t always the gospel truth
It was a beautiful September day on the campus of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The sun was shining brightly through the Beech trees along Lexington Road as they turned from green to orange. I ran down the stairwell from my…
Black History Month: Remembering, waiting, watching
Black History Month has ended for 2021. This year during Black History Month the Public Broadcasting System aired a four-hour documentary, produced by Henry Louis Gates, about the Black church. Across the nation, people paid tribute to the contributions by…
Canada labels Uyghur repression ‘genocide,’ but that’s not as exemplary as you might think
This week, Canada’s Parliament voted to label China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority as “genocide.” This makes Canada the second country in the world after the United States to describe Beijing’s egregious repression as it is. A bit of…
About disfellowshipping churches based on the ‘clear’ teaching of Scripture
Two churches were disfellowshipped this week by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee for “affirming homosexuality within their memberships.” I have ties to at least one of the churches — friends, colleagues and former students and seminary and Sunday school…