Is God behind the COVID-19 pandemic? Is God intervening to bring judgment on America? Does God bless gay marriage? Does God recognize a woman’s right to choose? Is God accepting of everyone? Does God welcome everyone into the body of…
Learning late about my hometown: Selma, Alabama
I was born in Selma, Ala., in November 1962. I lived in a little ranch house on Dixie Drive, three miles from the Pettus Bridge. The only memories I have of Selma were the stories told by my parents, who shared…
We’re asking the wrong questions about churches ‘reopening’
Every Christian I know longs for a return to pre-COVID congregational life. For four months, our beloved rhythms have been on hold, leaving us frustrated, exhausted and ready for the widespread acceptance of practices to help curb the spread of…
How to win the war between keeping the peace and telling the truth
Sometimes the conflict between keeping the peace and truthfully stating what we believe is agonizing. In February 2006, I became semi-famous for writing an article in Christianity Today arguing that torture is morally wrong and that no American Christian should…
My Coronavirus Summer: Coping with grief and seeking joy
None of us are exempt from significant loss at some point in our lives — loss of loved ones, property, health, income. Losses often pile up on one another, and the world seems to turn upside down overnight. After my…
Maybe I’m taking ‘crazy pills’ because this doesn’t make sense
In the cult movie classic Zoolander, Will Farrell famously shouts, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” Here lately, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills, too. Things that seem so abundantly self-evident now appear to be missed or, worse,…
What if we all learned to breathe in and breathe out together?
Blue faded overalls, a sharp Case knife, a gold Timex watch and a green oxygen tank. For about as far back as I can remember, those were the essentials for my Pap. Pap mined coal underground in Eastern Kentucky for…
The utopian states of myopia and the curse of obliviousness
Yes, I know the heavy-hitting headline above is a gulp of gargantuan words you might not ever string together. “Myopia” is a vision condition known as being shortsighted or nearsighted. “Utopian” worlds are fictional places or fantastical illusions of preferred…
‘Disremembering’ our history: Pastor John Onwuchekwa, the SBC and the rest of us
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin I first learned of the ministry of Rev. John Onwuchekwa, lead pastor at Cornerstone Church, Atlanta, when a friend sent…
Four radical implications of knowing you are God’s child
We are children of God. This statement is incredibly simple. And incredibly radical. In Genesis, God creates humanity out of God’s image. Humans are made into God’s image and grow into God’s likeness. We are like God; we bear God’s…
Here’s one word to make peace in this political season
Politics is a year-round sport, but the season is intensifying with the coming of the 2020 presidential election. With it, relationships between family members, friends and strangers will become more contentious, strained and precarious. It doesn’t take a prophet or the…
Your church after COVID: Restart, refresh or relaunch?
Our current virus pandemic has forced all of us to face some harsh realities. One of the benefits of experiencing a seismic shift in our world is the ensuing time of introspection and the questioning of our assumptions. Most churches…