What a couple of agnostics taught me about congregational business. I have two friends who are particularly dear to me, both named Chuck. I first met The Chucks, as I call them, a few years ago in a writers’ group…
And justice for all
It really, no kidding, could have been my son. My 17-year-old boy, broader than many and taller than most, must seem imposing, threatening even. I know this because a few weeks ago, when my son was in a place he…
God of love?
It seems that most every time I write something about God not hating gays or about what early Christians believed about hell, I get a healthy amount of reaction from people who feel that it is their duty, their holy…
Don’t Worry, Gay Scouts, Southern Baptists Still ‘Love’ You
At last week’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, messengers from SBC churches around the country voted on and approved a resolution concerning the recent change in membership policy by the Boy Scouts of America, which says that “no youth may…
On broken hearts and crazy love
There are never any words sufficient to address the senseless acts of violence that are happening too frequently in our world. Our instinct as human beings is to somehow try and make sense of it all, to find an explanation,…
Choosing to love
Love is much more of a daily decision than a feeling. I’m not sure I would have said this sentence five years ago. Then, I was still looking to gratify my own sensual and sexual needs. I was coupling these…
Subject: Fwd., Fwd., Fwd., Fwd., Fwd.,
In general I don’t like emails that have been forwarded a dozen times. However, I do usually have a look at what I have been sent unless I have reason to suspicion a virus or such. Why take the time?…
Questions about Christian beliefs
Not too long ago some friends at my church, Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, asked me if I would talk to them about five questions. I’ll respond to the first two questions in today’s post and with the…
“. . . as you love yourself.”
If Jesus were pastoring in a mainline, Protestant church today, and were asked the same question scribes and scholars ask in Mark 12.28-31 (What is the greatest commandment?), I think he’d omit the “. . . as you love yourself”…