The mob riots of Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., have rightfully angered many of us, while also injecting tons of confusion into our national conversation. Which is saying a lot since our national conversation already was in tatters from so…
Dear white Christians, are you done praying yet?
We all watched with horror last week as white supremacists breeched the Capitol, leaving a pool of blood, death and destruction in their wake. As an African American, my first thought was simple, “White people can get away with anything…
SBC seminary presidents meet with Black pastors but don’t change position on Critical Race Theory
Five weeks after the six white presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention’s seminaries ignited a firestorm of protest for their denunciation of Critical Race Theory, they met with a group of Black SBC pastors and didn’t back down. The result…
I’ve been accused of sowing hate
Over the last seven months, I’ve been accused of sowing hate and division with my social media posts. This summer, I lost a lifelong friend because of it. After George Floyd was killed, I began writing posts about racial justice,…
It’s past time to admit the hard truths behind the Capitol riots
History will report that on Jan. 6, 2021, two weeks before the end of Donald Trump’s term as the 45th president of the United States, Trump told thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., to march to the U.S….
Do you see Jesus as a power broker or a liberator?
A couple of decades ago I had the privilege of serving at a well-known Black church in Brooklyn. One day, some visiting German theologians, who were examining the Black church in America, asked our pastor if the God of the…
On Epiphany, tend the light of Christ with truth and love
On Epiphany, which the worldwide church celebrates today, we should ask ourselves how we, the church, will rise and shine in these dark days of discouragement so that we will be a light to the world. The answer has to…
An invitation to the SBC seminary presidents — and all white Christians — to enter the moral struggle as articulated by Howard Thurman
At the dawn of 1955, civil rights leader and Black theologian Howard Thurman preached on the Apostle Paul’s moral struggle in the Letter to the Romans. Mid-letter, Paul confesses he desires to do right, but there is a war within…
As Georgia goes to the polls: Win or lose, we’ll keep preaching the truth
I’ll never forget that moment. It was the late spring of 2008, and I was sitting in the pulpit of Covenant United Church of Christ in South Holland, Ill., where I had the privilege of serving for nearly eight years…