On Monday morning, we have eggs with our breakfast. But on Tuesday — Martes Gordo, Fat Tuesday — we do not have eggs to add to our morning meal of bread and butter, juice, and coffee. I strive to connect…
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Springsteen and Lent, Part 2: The First Sunday in Lent
When I think of this week’s lectionary text from the book of Romans, I am always reminded of the now infamous comments of former Southern Baptist Convention president Bailey Smith. The year was 1987, and Smith was at a conference…
Congregational management must be accountable to visionary leadership
“Who is in charge here?” is a demand question often heard from someone who wants to enter an organization and provide either leadership or management. When spoken loudly and with an anger edge it can mean that if no one…
Pastors need Lent, too
Just as we had finished imposing ashes on the foreheads of worshipers, my friend and fellow pastor David Bennett turned to me and said, “Alan, remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” And with those words, David…
Skin tax
What does it cost in America if your skin isn’t white? In 1996, I was a summer missionary in the Philippines. I had no idea how much that summer would change my life. One night my partner and I stayed…
A church for those who wander
Congregations that fail to care deeply for those who have wandered have missed something essential to their reason for being. The book of James closes with a most interesting assertion: “My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from…
Politics in the pulpit: One pastor’s approach
Election years can be volatile, unpredictable, and filled with heated political rhetoric. And these days, it is not unusual for prominent pastors and local clergy to join the fray of bombastic oratory. While I do not think pastors should…
Let the tares alone
Are we courageous enough to stand on conscience, while taking seriously those whose consciences may not now, or ever, be compatible with our own? In 1644, Roger Williams, in London to secure a charter for the new colony of Rhode…
Grace as a default system
Too often, we begin relationships by assuming we experience the world exactly the same way. I recently had an opportunity to share lunch and conversation with a group of female seminarians. Over the course of the conversation I heard several…
We missed our Christian moment, again
As the build up to the Iowa caucus has come and gone, there was a heavy focus on the Evangelical Christian vote as a key to winning. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump all sought the support of the…
Springsteen and Lent: Part I, Ash Wednesday
In graduate school, it can often seem as if all of the good ideas have already been taken. Someone smarter and older has already written on whatever idea you may have. To remedy this seemingly unending problem, one begins to…