The holiday season has reached its peak. Decorations, parties, calories and music abound. Some of this music is soul inspiring. I am warmed each time I hear Sheryl Crow’s “Blue Christmas”, The Barenaked Ladies’ “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” or…
Clergy self-esteem
If you suffer from low self-esteem, you might not want to go into local church ministry. Of course, if others suffer from your overly inflated self-esteem, you probably shouldn’t go into local church ministry either. Who, then, can survive, you…
Amanda died the other day, but her singing continues
Almost four decades ago while I was serving as pastor of an inner city congregation near a Baptist seminary, I would often have seminary students visit to see if they could obtain some ministry experience as a volunteer with our…
How to Kill a Church
A prefatory note: This brief story was written based on conversations I’ve had with ministers, laypeople and leaders, young and old, rich and poor, and those no longer visiting church. It was a cold, December day and though the Nativity scene was brightly…
Middle-aged youth
When the mother of a lifelong friend died, we came to pay our respects. As sometimes happens, the post-service family visitation became an impromptu youth group reunion. Great hugs and greetings were exchanged as we reconnected with some of those…
They lost me when they said this was not a letter about AIDS
Back in the 1980s when the world was still trying to figure out how to get a handle on the pandemic of AIDS, I came home from work one day and had a letter from the American Red Cross. I…
Raising a lover – not a fighter
Chances are you haven’t met my almost five-year-old, except for those obligatory readers from my extended family (hi mom!). I happen to think he’s amazingly brillant and brilliantly amazing. I’m sure this is why he has a healthy self-esteem. Every…
What do you get when you focus on conflict? More conflict!
I’m sure you have probably heard the old adage that says Baptists are like alley cats. You know what you get when cats fight an alley on Saturday night? More cats. Conflict is similar to this because the more you…
The Lakers and a lesson
This week the Los Angeles Lakers hired a new basketball coach. After five losses to open the season, they replaced Mike Brown with former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks head coach, Mike D’Antoni. Discussion of the Lakers choice of…