Hundreds of United Methodists across the United States mobilized in August in community efforts to bring kindness, civility and community into the fractious U.S. presidential election season. Motivated in part by their own experiences of division as well as the…
One more day: Resetting the smile on our faces
A friend at the YMCA where I work has some struggles with his hip. Even so, he is regularly in the gym building muscle, the pain notwithstanding. He smiles on the way into the gym even though he is hurting….
Your idea of goodness may not be kindness
Many years ago, two deacons from a church I served as pastor asked if they could take me to lunch. Was this an act of kindness? An act of thanks for my hard work? There’s always a reason for lunch….
Why can’t we just ‘BE KIND NOW!!’?
Thanks to a kindness art campaign going on at our local elementary school this month, I have received multiple notes from my youngest child with a rainbow drawing and one simple command: “BE KIND NOW!!” These BE KIND notes came…
The good graduate student: A modern parable
This past Sunday was beautiful. After a wonderful worship service, many of us walked downtown for Williamsburg’s PrideCon, an annual event put on by Love is Love Tidewater. It was a welcoming environment where people felt safe and free to…
Let’s show Christian kindness to LGBTQ people and their advocates
Several years ago, when I was a professor at a Baptist university, a student told me he had encouraged a gay Christian friend to come talk with me. He assured him I was compassionate, understanding and non-judgmental. It wasn’t long…
Some words I’m working to adjust in my vocabulary this year
On New Year’s Eve, Lake Superior State University released its annual list of English-language words and phrases that should be banished in 2023 because they are overused and trite. Please don’t call this list the Greatest of All Time or…
Two burgers and a shake
David is in the mood to talk. Me, too. I haven’t seen him for a while. We spend at least half an hour bantering about life, God and the devil. “He’s after me,” David tells me, referring to Old Scratch….
Hell is other people, but heaven is, too
Jessica Williamson, a receptionist at a gym in Los Angeles, gets bored, makes a poster and ends up with her story on public radio’s This American Life. She writes “CAT FOUND!!!” above two pictures of possums that she prints off…