I was raised on stories. I don’t remember a time when stories were not present in my world. Stories were a foundation for my heart long before I knew what that meant and that has followed me all my life….
An Advent call for advocacy for our Burmese brothers and sisters
When entered into faithfully, Advent is a frustratingly wonderful season of awkwardly waiting for God to act on the promises God has made. Advent is a season firmly planted in kairos time, yet it requires an annual examination of chronos…
Letters to Mary: Women have creative power
Advent shows us something about power that the palace always forgets. Real strength doesn’t powder its face with contempt. The authority that spoke galaxies into being entered the world through a woman’s body and trusted her to say yes. — Derek…
Baptists have learned how to pass the buck on abusive clergy
Sexual predators in our midst have gotten a pass for far too long. While part of this is due to victimology, I believe a larger piece of this equation is a misunderstanding of the perpetrator. How many times will we…
Upside Down Advent: Joy versus sorrow
Fair warning up front: I’m going to mess with one of your favorite hymns today. Be prepared. But first, a story. As I was writing this lesson, I got a message from a friend whose beloved cat died Thursday. We…
Reclaiming Christianity from the evangelical hypocrites
I lost the message of Christ to these evangelicals. I really wanted so desperately to reclaim the Christian faith from the hypocrites who have taken control of the message of Jesus for the last 50 years, but I can see…
Is it time to retire the term ‘Christian nationalism’?
As if exasperated by a quarrel during Thanksgiving dinner, columnist Michael Sean Winters pleads with whoever will listen: “Can everyone please stop talking about ‘Christian nationalism?’” Writing in the Nov. 21 issue of the National Catholic Reporter, he claims with…
In conversation with Jeffrey Rosen
Jeffrey Rosen is president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, professor of law at George Washington University, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the…
The God I don’t believe in
Years ago while serving as a parish pastor, I visited an inactive member of my new congregation. Although he used to attend regularly, he quit coming after his wife died. By the time I arrived at the church, he had…
Affirmed yet not ordained?
As Meredith Stone of Baptist Women in Ministry announced the results of the State of Women in Ministry 2025 report, she said this: “BWIM has counted 2,856 Baptist women ordained to the gospel ministry.” My immediate reaction was, there has…
Transferring from Anxiety University to Gratitude College
From the front desk of the YMCA where I work during the early morning hours, I notice a lot of interesting T-shirt designs. On Monday of Thanksgiving week, a woman approaching the check-in scanner was wearing one that read, “Anxiety…
Learning from Trump’s unnatural impatience
Maybe Donald Trump is just a rich guy who is impatient and wants to get richer. He figured out that to get really rich, Musk-rich, you need to have political power, the more the better. Specifically, he must have reasoned,…