Last week, I caught my children playing “church” in the backyard — a game I used to play as a child, too. I watched inconspicuously so they wouldn’t see me. My son Benjamin was pretending to be Pastor Stephen, who…
Baptist deacon is author of controversial anti-trans bills in Texas, joining wave of similar legislation pushed nationwide
A Baptist deacon is the author of an anti-transgender bill that has passed the Texas Senate and now awaits action in the House — a bill that has been called by critics one of the cruelest in a season of…
We cannot now close our border to those fleeing the horror we helped create
Why should we open our border to poor people from Central America? What if they are really terrorists? What if they have COVID, or something even more contagious? How can we afford to take care of “their” children when we…
Our needs are holy to God: The Gospel of Dr. Seuss
There seems to be a furor among some today over Dr. Seuss Enterprise’s decision to withdraw six Dr. Seuss children’s books from publication and about the mortal danger of “cancel culture” to American civilization. So here is a salute to…
Why am I so afraid of my son’s tutu?
Sitting across from us was our now adult son with so much pain on his face. “How could you not have known? And if you did, why did you leave me to figure it all out on my own?” Six…
Why I’m a 26-year-old mother of five
The mandate of the Scriptures in James is clear, to care for the widow and the orphan. If this is the case, then why are we so slow to do so? Why are we living in a time where there…
Maybe I’m taking ‘crazy pills’ because this doesn’t make sense
In the cult movie classic Zoolander, Will Farrell famously shouts, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” Here lately, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills, too. Things that seem so abundantly self-evident now appear to be missed or, worse,…
In these fearful days, I’m gladly praying for ‘Sticky,’ my 4-year-old son’s imaginary friend
After this pandemic is over, after things return to “normal,” we will still have the scars from our experience. And how well these scars heal is directly related to how we treat our wounds and the wounds of our neighbors now.
COVID-19 may be novel, but there’s nothing new about the virus of poverty | #intimeslikethese
Maybe this unwanted virus could serve as an invisible stranger, confronting us at the riverside of our own generosity (that should not be necessary), begging us to ask the obvious question: Why are so many children so poor to begin with?
‘Why do we need mountains?’ A child’s profound question merits a thoughtful response
If we listen carefully to how children ask their questions of God and church, we clergy, parents and other adults might discover ways to “speak Christian” plainly.
Be who you needed …
By Aileen Lawrimore “Be who you needed when you were younger.” This meme, trending in social media, offers a great reminder to those of us who may have forgotten the struggles of our younger years; it’s also a great suggestion…
Missing children
By Mark Wingfield Some people talk incessantly about their children; others never mention their children. I’m increasingly interested in the latter group. Particularly when the silence concerns older teenagers or young adults, it’s a clue that something is amiss. Or…