On the evening of May 31, 1921, a mob of white people attacked the homes and businesses of Black people who lived in the thriving Greenwood community — considered the “Black Wall Street” — of Tulsa, Okla. Throughout that night…
To heal racism, seek atonement before reconciliation, authors say
White Christians must seek atonement before reconciliation if the wounds of racism are to be healed, two religion scholars said during a March 16 webinar on evangelicalism and race in America. “You can’t have change until you have had true…
How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma
“How did you come to have a passion for social justice issues?” That was one of the questions put to me this week when the tables got turned and I was the interviewee instead of the interviewer. The answer immediately…
Crossing the lines we draw: Will our response to this pandemic unite or further divide us?
Amid the widening divisions and deepening polarization in every area of life, we can make choices that are intended to bring people together rather than push them farther away.
From spreading ashes to administering them: Ash Wednesday for a broken and grieving minister
On Ash Wednesday, I will try to reconcile with a Jesus who stands before me, ready to offer the love I desperately need. I will try to find his hand amid my darkness, a brokenness that has nothing to do with my sin.
Evangelicals have lost moral credibility. But there are signs of self-confrontation that could lead to reconciliation, even revival
Whatever moral credibility American evangelicals once had, they have lost. They have chosen to die on the 45th hill, and it has been painful and despairing to watch. Our nation desperately needs strong faith communities that are able to articulate a clear moral voice, even if it convicts them, too.
What we can learn from Chance the Rapper
When and where am I speaking boldly and prophetically about faith and justice, pushing the world around me to fully examine its complicity in maintaining systems of power and privilege that do repeated harm to bodies and psyches unable to protect themselves?
Reflecting on CBF life in the midst of hope and ashes
If I read my Bible correctly (and if I read my American history correctly), the only real hope we have for reconciliation isn’t actually through reading our Bible correctly. And it isn’t through winning an argument with someone who disagrees with us. Reconciliation only seems to happen in one way — through carrying crosses.
With fear, everything becomes a potential weapon, even church bells
Under a covered patch of brick in our church parking lot there hangs an enormous bronze bell. It dates back to 1887 and hung in our spire until a structural engineer submitted a report back in the 1960s telling us…