Oscar, you might not remember me. It’s been many years — 1964 to 1965, to be exact. But I cannot forget you or the time I betrayed you, not meaning to in any way. Yet I did exactly that, and…
Make new paths in the new year
Outside the library at St. John’s Abbey and College is a sign on the green lawn that’s not the expected “Don’t Walk on the Grass” but instead, “Don’t Make Paths.” As long as you don’t beat the grass into paths…
Carpe Diem: Seize the day before it’s too late
As is my custom, I poured my first cup of coffee and sat down in my favorite chair to check my emails and my friends’ activities on Facebook and Instagram before settling in with the morning news. To my shock,…
Is your kind of Christianity divine or human?
The American church today needs to distinguish between what is from God and what is human and historically conditioned. We could do this by observing how people do the will of God. Matthew 7:20-21 offers a simple biblical solution —…
The best way to finish this dreadful year is with lavish generosity
Thirty-six years ago this month, I learned a lesson in generosity that inspires me to this day. I was 23 years old, had just completed a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of New Mexico and was heading to…
Truth Decay: Walking in the truth
“I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” — 3 John 4 With this post, we make our first turn to truth as a moral issue. We will not begin with…
Hope for a new year out of the historical disunity of our United States
It’s not about Donald Trump. Nor did our current dis-unity start with him. In his excellent book, American Nations, Colin Woodard shares helpful insights into what lies at the heart of much of our current public discontent: We began this…
What to preach the Sunday between Christmas and New Year
A few days ago, something amazing transpired at a fast-food drive-through window in Atlanta. A young woman named Feroza Syed was waiting in her car to reach the service window when she happened to notice something bizarre happen at the…
Will Southern Baptists ever list racism among the odious evils they must stand against, like abortion?
In October 1973, I was a first-semester religion major at Bishop College in Dallas, a Black college founded in 1881 by Baptists. Having turned 17 the prior month, I was in awe of the many teenage preachers on the campus….
Merry Christmas anyway
We are saving money — no plane tickets, no fancy restaurants, no Nutcracker this year. We are not seeing everyone we wish we were seeing, not doing everything we wish we were doing, and not having the Christmas we wish…
Facing life’s realities at Christmas: Listening to Rachel
It was Christmas Eve in the small New England church where I preached my first-ever Advent sermon, Dec. 24, 1971 — the first of four years I served as the congregation’s pastor while studying at Boston University. The First Community…
To the shepherds: Reframing Christmas in a pandemic
The Advent season for the Christian faith community is really important. It’s the season before Christmas that symbolizes a deep sense of longing — a longing for something that is not here yet but is hoped for. Hope that is…