It’s time for a conversation. Not more talk, but a conversation. There is a massive gap between these two related items. “Talk” is plentiful and abundant. It is the stuff of comment sections and social media and message boards. It…
Sunday’s coming: Freedom from Racism
He shot them at prayer meeting. On June 17, in the year of our Lord 2015, a 21-year-old white supremacist millennial named Dylann Roof shot nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., in cold blood…
Why I struggle to jump on the terrorism bandwagon
I’ve never visited Charleston, S.C. My perspective and reflection is limited by my experience — like everyone else. As I listened to the reports and read articles, comments and threads popping up all over the Internet and social media, I…
Monday’s songs: The words we know
I had no idea what to say. Somewhere between realizing I had to lead Sunday school and looking over what I had planned to teach, I was gripped by the fact that I had no words. What exactly do you…
God isn’t fooled
After listening to multiple responses from candidates for president and television commentators to the shooting that occurred at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, it seems like most of them have an aversion to calling the shooting solely a racist incident….
Dylann Roof and the sound of silence
Fools said I, You do not know Silence like a cancer grows. The slaughter of nine innocent people gathered for prayer at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., was horrific, deplorable, sickening, cruel and heartless. It was not senseless.
The Mother Emanuel Nine and the Parable of the Sower and the Soils
South Carolina became my adopted state 30 years ago. Understanding and appreciating its culture is a continual journey of social and religious understanding. The story of the Emanuel Nine provides a new dimension of learning. This tragic incident is personal…
The music of mourning: This one thing I know
Something inside
On Thursday morning, 50 of us are jammed into a Sunday school room singing chants. Most of the “us” are scholars — elementary school students — for Freedom School. This is the first day of six weeks that will be…