The week begins with a parade and ends with “stations” visited. Baptists do not usually speak about “stations of the cross,” for we, like our Anabaptist forebears, are a bit suspicious about anything too Catholic. (On balance, the Anabaptists were…
Criticizing Trump’s ethics is easy. Building a church around the ethics of Jesus? That’s hard.
Last year I spent 250 hours driving around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for my job as a hospice chaplain. As I drive I listen to sermons and lectures from cutting edge biblical scholars, theologians and preachers, and podcasts and YouTube…
‘Lord, if you had been here’: Confronting the absence of God
“Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” That’s what Jesus’ friends Mary and Martha said to him on separate encounters after their brother Lazarus had expired in Bethany where Jesus was nowhere to be found.
When God doesn’t bless in really tangible, monetary ways
I want my son to receive the gift that comes from being a part of a family and a community of people who practice the ancient art of (sometimes foolishly) depending upon a divine force rather than the invisible hand of the stock market for worth, direction, hope and stability.
50 years after ‘Beyond Vietnam’: What’s changed?
Every week as I stand in the pulpit of the Riverside Church where Dr. King called for an end to racism, poverty and militarism in America, I fight the temptation to despair. In 50 years, have we made no progress at all? In this place where the call to justice has gone out again and again it’s abundantly clear that our moral crisis is deeper than ever.
Teenaged girl’s ministry becomes Baptist woman’s call
Nothing in the program guide suggested I might slip through a time portal during worship. I’m sure of it; I would have noticed. Sure, the theme of the 34th annual convocation for Baptist Women in Ministry of North Carolina, “Storied…
Want to be a good mission partner? 5 things to consider
At QC Family Tree, we regularly get the question from congregations, “How can we be good partners for your mission?” The question often, but not always, comes to us from the same social locations that my wife and I, the…
The liberating practice of Sabbath
Regarding the discipline of practicing Sabbath (Jews prefer the Hebrew word, Shabbat), I have read and written many sermons and articles. But nothing brings this floating, vague theological notion down out of the clouds like spending time with real, living,…
Where to find unity in our fractured nation? Perhaps in a heightened culture of helping
We are living in a time in the United States when helping seems to be a zero sum game. If we tend to the well being of others, we are somehow diminished and our economic security is compromised. The erosion of compassion leads to a spiritual death, and the ability to inure ourselves to the needs of others threatens the common good.
Never belonging: Random reflections on my last visit to Cuba
I am held in contempt and suspicion on both sides of the Florida Straits. Here, I’m too Cuban to ever be American, and there, I’m too American to ever be a Cuban. The trauma of which I speak is never belonging.
American exceptionalism at a crossroads?
Americans agree that national identity is in trouble but clearly disagree on what that identity is or might be. Nowhere is that more evident than in faith communities.
How mean and lean must a budget be before it’s immoral?
The old preacher said if you want to know about someone’s spirituality, there’s no better measure than how they spend their money. The preacher wasn’t a money-grubbing televangelist; his comment reflected years wizened by experience as a careful student of…