I told this story in my sermon Sunday: I met a new friend the other day, who, upon finding out I was a pastor, asked me a question framed with a story. “What should pastors be saying about this election?”…
Do this — not, believe this — and you will live
The Sunday school version of the story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 simply admonishes us to be like the Samaritan and show love to our neighbor but leaves the question, “Who is my neighbor?” unanswered. The Sunday school…
Whiteness and racial identity
White privilege is mostly a non-experience for white people. White people are not criminalized because of their race, which is why a white man can carry an AR-15 in public and only receive a qualified response from police officers, while unarmed African-American men and boys are killed.
Empowering youth to speak when racism, discrimination loom
One of the lessons I learned this week is that most of our youth are way ahead of us adults on this stuff. They are aware of what’s going on, they are passionate about it, but they often haven’t felt empowered to speak.
Will LGBTQ inclusion be the death of the CBF?
In a recent reflection piece stimulated by America’s birthday, David Gushee shared this snapshot of a divided America: “We are at least two different countries — a conservative, largely white, somewhat older, largely Christian country with a center of gravity…
Elie Wiesel: cutting and keeping
Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate, Andrew Mellow Professor of Humanities at Boston University, died July 2 at age 87. Had the Nazis had their way, he would never have survived past age 16, when the Allied troops liberated Buchenwald…
Still learning to see the third time across the Brooklyn Bridge
I like running to Manhattan and I love running back to Brooklyn — though running may not be the right word. I have trotted across the Brooklyn Bridge three times. I go slow enough not to miss much. According to…
Preaching with a prayer list
In seminary, I avoided taking the preaching courses until the very end. Instead, I preferred to preach the gospel to empty pews in our chapel on my lunch break and in between classes. In fact, I would offer the hymn…
Who is the Samaritan?
An ancient tension in Christian discipleship often trips us up. Are we capable of doing what God asks us to do? If we are, why do we not follow the divine guidance more? This debate is as old as Augustine…
What does it mean to have ‘The Conversation’ about human sexuality?
At the moment, both my present church and larger Baptist denominational fellowship (The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) have initiated processes of deliberative dialogue around difficult areas of discernment in our life together. Though not directly meant to address convictions and practices…
High anxiety in the Church
Anyone feeling anxious? A better question: anyone not feeling anxious? God’s people in the 21st century suffer a serious malady. We mouth the words of faithfulness while we live lives dominated by anxiety and frustration. For every time we parrot “God…
Keep laying shells for the culture to find its way home
I am a father of two. So, this past week, I did my parenting duty: I took my kids to see the movie Finding Dory. As a writer and a preacher, I should probably watch more movies than I do….