What is happening? That question pretty much sums up my social media feeds from last week until now. Ever since the events of January 6, where a mob of pro-Trump supporters infiltrated the Capitol in Washington, DC, our national psyche has been hyper-agitated. Some are worried. Others are angry. Everyone has someone to blame. Conspiracists … Continue reading
I don’t know where people get the energy. I really don’t. I mean, I’m a caffeine addicted, 4 -cups-a-day coffee drinker, and I don’t possess the energy that some people seem to have. Because it takes energy to be outraged all the time. Another controversial celebrity endorses a product, “Boycott that product! If you own … Continue reading
Yeah, yeah, I’m back. It’s been 9 months since I’ve written, but if you’re expecting something as miraculous as birth, you will be sorely disappointed. The main reason I haven’t blogged is simple: I don’t have much to say. The news is banal. Social media is a land populated by extremists who scare normal people … Continue reading
It’s Vacation Bible School week at the church I minister with, which means that everything is twice as busy, twice as messy, and twice as stressful as usual. Children of all ages are running around, doing crafts, singing songs, and learning about some of the heroes of the faith from staff that are dressed like, … Continue reading
It was Martin Luther King, Jr. who said that, “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Those words, written half a century ago in the midst of the Civil Rights movement seem even farther away in their application. Recent events have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are a … Continue reading
It sounds like something straight out of an Orwellian universe: government leaders demanding that clerics turn in their homilies to be inspected under threat of prosecution. But this isn’t some dystopian novel. This is modern-day America, and that is exactly what’s happening in Houston. The nation’s first openly lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, is making a … Continue reading
There’s been a disturbing trend in Christian circles, and it’s been around for a number of years. It has ebbed and flowed, but with the explosion of social media in the past half-decade it is not only “trending”, it’s spreading like an epidemic among the evangelical world. What is this trend? It is a war … Continue reading
My emotions now are a freight train of feelings colliding with a passenger train of adjectives. Anger. Wrecked. Brokenhearted. Shattered. Shocked. Sickened. No matter how hard I try, there is no way to make sense of an armed man executing a classroom of 5-year-olds. The idea of it is nauseating. Seeing it carried out in … Continue reading
Imagine the stereotypical country church in a pastoral setting: little white building, green stained glass, a steeple and 100 year old oak trees framing the picture. That’s the church I am blessed enough to serve. She sits off a two-lane country road in the middle of tobacco farms where we define a traffic jam as … Continue reading
I’m tired. I’m tired of the whole debate over homosexuals. Should they marry? Should they not marry? What about civil unions? I’m tired of politics. I’m tired of bills designed to ‘protect’ marriage. I’m tired of politicians saying what is expedient rather than what is necessary. I’m tired of the ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ mentality that … Continue reading
The Pondering Preacher 