Happy birthday to me. There, we got that out of the way. This week, I’m celebrating a “significant” birthday. It’s not round. It’s a gateway. My wife, Joanna, will celebrate the same-number feliz cumpleaños in five months. Because of those…
Life lessons from a red service station truck and the fade to pink
From 1957 until he retired, my Pop owned and operated a service station in Meridian, Miss. That occupation, life work and calling were scripted for him by the economic reality that he and most of his seven brothers left school…
Carpe Diem: Seize the day before it’s too late
As is my custom, I poured my first cup of coffee and sat down in my favorite chair to check my emails and my friends’ activities on Facebook and Instagram before settling in with the morning news. To my shock,…
Jamaican Baptist becomes oldest living human
A 117-year-old Jamaican Baptist woman is now the world’s oldest human, according to the Gerontology Research Group. With Saturday’s death of Italian Emma Morano, born in 1899 and the last survivor from the 19th century, Violet Mosse-Brown became the oldest…
American pastors are older, and getting older, than ever
If you’re noticing a lot of gray in the pulpit at your church these days, you’re not alone. Pastors are getting older. “The aging of pastors represents a substantial crisis for Protestant churches,” David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group,…
Ministry involvement a key need for many aging Christians, ministers say
Thanks to medical advancements — along with some other factors — people are living longer. This means the number of older Americans will continue to grow in the coming years. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by 2050, the number…
The importance of being carnal
The gospels are full of stories in which the “incarnate Christ” opens the interior life of human beings by giving attention to their carnal presence, their broken, hungry, naked, hurting bodies.
‘Old’ is just a new word
I was recently hit by a trio of insults regarding my age. Let me just say that for the purposes of this column, you don’t need to know how old I am. It is none of your business. (OK, if…
Georgia church heeds calling to serve elderly through worship
By Jeff Brumley News of a church’s closing usually brings tears and mourning, and certainly there will be some of that when Scott Boulevard Baptist Church leaves its historic property in Decatur, Ga., for nearby rented space on Sunday. But…