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…
Is it OK to feel how I’m feeling?
In this quarantine life and racial upheaval, it seems that everywhere we turn, someone is telling us how we should feel. Or rather how we shouldn’t feel what we are feeling. Are you afraid? Stop! Are you too calm? Stop!…
Four ways parents should nurture children during COVID
“Opportunity” often gets described as the opposite side of “crisis.” While the coronavirus pandemic continues to be a crisis for our nation and our world, it also presents parents with unique opportunities, what Robert Havighurst called “teachable moments.” First, model…
Why we must not look away in the current crisis
It was a sermon illustration I will never forget. Our pastor told the story of Father Michael Renninger, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Richmond, Va. While a college student on his way home one weekend, Renninger stopped to…
Ten reasons for hope in this time of dystopia
I am a huge fan of dystopian literature and film, although I am finding I am not a particularly big fan of actually living in a dystopia. And with staying at home so much, I am not sure my partner…