Many of us who call ourselves Christians are currently navigating Lent, a 40-day season of penitence, repentance, forgiveness, reframing. I wouldn’t generally characterize Lent a wildly popular season, mostly because it is an invitation that calls us away from the…
Hymn stories: Lord, Who Throughout These 40 Days
Many congregations sing Lord, Who Throughout These 40 Days during the season of Lent, unaware of its origin as a children’s hymn. It is one of the few hymns written addressing the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. (see…
The meaning of Jesus in these odd times, part 3
In the season of Lent 2022, our world is at war. No, it’s not World War III. Not yet. But if you think the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has no worldwide implications, you’ve not stopped at the gas pump lately. Last January…
Going public with Lent’s call to penitence
“Concealment makes the soul a swamp. Confession is how you drain it.” —Charles M. Blow They have treated the wound of my people carelessly. They acted shamefully, they committed abomination, yet they did not know how to blush. —Jeremiah 6:14-15…
In this Lenten season, consider the plight of subminimum wage workers
Black History Month has just drawn to a close on the American civic calendar, and Lent is set to begin on the Christian liturgical calendar. Most years, these two observances partially overlap. Easter has to fall after April 15 for…
Meditation on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
I can almost smell the acrid, thick smoke of diesel engines powering Russian tanks, personnel carriers and trucks hauling heavy artillery into two eastern provinces of Ukraine’s border with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the two provinces as “independent…
Admitting our part in ‘Good’ Friday
Most of my adult life, I have questioned the notion of “Good Friday.” How can the day on which the Son of God was murdered be called “good”? I never would call Sept. 30, the day my father died suddenly…
This Holy Week, let us ‘go in peace’
Sam Baker did not start writing music until after he nearly died. In 1986, he was on a train in Peru headed to Machu Picchu. He was 31. A bomb planted by the Peruvian terrorist group the Shining Path exploded…
A Holy Week reflection on justice and the Cross
On Palm Sunday in my Bible study class at First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., I was slated to teach this parable of Jesus. It is one of my favorites. Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to…