It was 11 years ago this month that I was diagnosed with preeclampsia. I was not due to deliver my first child until April of that year, and we were not yet two full months into the semester at Baptist…
Splitting churches right and left
Several years ago I put a self-imposed moratorium on employing the term “separation of church and state.” When I wrote the book Baptist Ways: A History, I don’t think I referenced the phrase unless citing its use in the Baptist…
Refusing to quarrel on Facebook, and what to do with new found free time
The first words of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis read: “Everyone has heard people quarreling. Sometimes it sounds funny and sometimes it sounds merely unpleasant; but however, it sounds I believe we can learn something very important from listening to…
Lifting the Johnson Amendment: A return to cultural captivity?
At the recent National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump expressed his desire to repeal the Johnson Amendment and “allow our representatives of faith to speak freely.” He was heard on the campaign trail saying that he would give pastors back their…
The Sermon on the Mount is counter-cultural. That’s the point.
If your church follows the Revised Common Lectionary you will know that in these weeks after the Epiphany we are hearing parts of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ famous teachings from the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5-7. Last Sunday…
With or without us: The Church and the growing protest movement
During a particularly dry spell in my spiritual life characterized by a good-sized dose of cynicism and an overdose of institutionalized religion, I walked into the middle of a church service and found faith again. There was corporate song, public…
Holy Spirit prompts change; inmates experience worship
By Thursday, I was pretty much prepared for the sermon I was to preach the next evening at the prison worship service; but when I read over it Friday morning, it just didn’t feel right. I tried revising it, but…
Isn’t there a third way through our disagreements?
As a child of the Depression, my mother developed two guiding principles that on the surface might seem at odds with each other. She lived her entire life in fear of not having enough resources. And yet she valued sharing…
Muslim justice: A Christian imperative for the Trump years
Our Muslim siblings have been under attack this week. While Muslim discrimination is not new, it’s taking more emboldened forms than ever before in the Trump era. Last Friday, it came in the form of a travel ban from seven…
Remembering Frederick Douglass
Beginning Black History Month, President Trump met with a group of black leaders at the White House on Wednesday. During his remarks at this meeting, President Trump caused people pause when he explained, “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody…
On becoming a Muslim to be a faithful follower of Jesus
As a committed liberationist-leaning Christian, I may have no choice but to say the Shahada and convert to Islam if I wish to be faithful to my beliefs. One of the bedrock principles of any liberative faith tradition is “solidarity…
The future of CEOs — and what that means for the Church
Because compensation for chief executive officers has grown by over 1,000 percent in the last three decades, research dedicated to the profile of these CEOs has proliferated. Because the U.S. church — for good or ill — tends to take…