I did not vote for the president-elect. However, I’ve benefited from a system and a mindset that did elect him. With campaign promises to be tough on crime, deport illegal immigrants, and bring an end to Muslim religion-inspired terrorism, our…
A post-election invitation to action
Two weeks ago, Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon broke from their characters as presidential candidates on Saturday Night Live and spoke directly to their audience saying, “We cannot tell you how to cast your vote, but we can ask you:…
Embracing doubt for the sake of the Great Commission
I was at a denominational conference this week and heard a speaker say plainly, and at times quite forcefully, that there is no room for doubt in the Christian faith, that serious Christians should have pre-packaged and ready-made answers for…
Failing to recognize the Jesus of the haters
I’m a social liberal. Want to know why? Jesus. Not the Jesus as interpreted by Paul. The Jesus of the Gospels. I grew up in a Baptist church in rural Texas and we went to church at least twice a…
The need for compassionate correctness
In the aftermath of the presidential election, the “N” word (a vicious reference to African-American human beings) is making a public comeback. In a Nov. 14 essay, the online journal, Fusion, documented multiple N-word postings, many related to schools, including…
Love, resistance, and the trouble ahead
She looked like hell when I answered the door. The sun was not yet fully up and a lady was knocking already. This day was not to be one for the normal rules of politeness. All the rules had been…
The election seen from an Arizona slot canyon
This opinion piece was also delivered as a sermon at the historic Madison Avenue Baptist Church in New York City on Nov. 13, 2016. Recently, my husband and I were in Arizona and Utah. We love that area of the…
Building the muscles of a posture of grace
I have terrible pain in my neck. On the right side, just under the skull. I can point right to it. It’s always in the same place. It can make normal activities like sleeping and driving almost torturous at times….
In the wake of Trump’s election, a meeting in the Ladies’ Room
Okay, ladies. Huddle up. We’re having this meeting in the Ladies’ Room because we have a serious problem that can no longer be ignored. You don’t have to be even all that in touch with world events to know that…
The great white backlash continues
Hatred has won. Violence is the new means of communication. We have gone from a political correctness which masked racism and ethnic discrimination to a full blown demonstration of revenge for the years in which people of color strived to…
Church in the Age of Trump
Depending on who you talk to, last Wednesday morning we either woke up to a different world or we woke up to a depressingly predictable one. While none of the pollsters or aggregators really saw the results of this election…
Don’t blame Trump for your bad behavior
Kids don’t show up at school and suddenly say racist things to their classmates because of who won a presidential election; most often they repeat what they’ve heard at home. College students don’t suddenly start yelling racial epithets on a…