We lay down trophies and accolades After visiting a well-known aging pastor and his wife, I thought about the couple’s influence among their peers, church, community and denomination. Most of this had vanished because of their declining health and years…
Inside U2’s ‘cathedral in Las Vegas’
People could perhaps be forgiven for cynically receiving U2’s 2023 Super Bowl ad announcing a Las Vegas residency inaugurating The Sphere as an indication that almost five decades after their 1976 founding, the Irish rock band has arrived at semi-retired…
In the footsteps of James Baldwin: An excerpt from The Gospel According to James Baldwin
This week, I’m returning to the Shomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem to read letters from James Baldwin to literary, political and Civil Rights leaders. Then on Sunday, at the historic Church of the Incarnation on Madison…
Republicans, Democrats, PHNs and cutting the baby in half
I don’t think I have the passage right. But first, let me explain. The Republican House leadership fell at the beginning of the month when the House approved Matt Gaetz’s motion to vacate the position of speaker of the House….
More violence will not produce peace
I am concerned about the current war in Gaza, Israel and Palestine because I care about life, justice, truth and peace as a follower, ordained minister and pastor of a congregation of people whose faith and living are inspired by…
Holding two truths together
Words fail to express thanks for the prayers and messages to me and our group traveling in Israel as war broke out. About half our intended group of 30 did not make it to Israel because the war broke out…
A Christian response to the war in Israel/Palestine
The war between Israel and Hamas has been front and center over the past week. The world watched as violent terrorists shot rockets into Israel, kidnapped civilians and beheaded children in an act of barbarism the world has not seen…
On building walls
There are many famous walls from our world history. We are familiar with the Great Wall of China, built 770 to 476 BCE. It was a fortification built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and imperial China…
‘I’m a Palestinian American Christian, and I don’t hear my story in any of the narratives’
This current horrific and deadly confrontation between Israel’s powerful military and Palestinian resistance is a vivid example of reality versus propaganda. Listening to the drone of media describing the heart-breaking situation in Gaza is not enough. In addition, as a…