It’s something I have done since my first ministry. On Fridays I walk through the empty sanctuary, sit in each pew, and pray. I pray for the people who will sit there, whoever they may be. I pray that something happens to touch their hearts, strengthen their faith, or encourage them to live radically for … Continue reading
I had to check the calendar several times Saturday. White supremacists marching the streets. A KKK rally complete with pointy hats and rebel flags. People murdering each other over a statue. Were we in the 1960s? Wait, is that a Nazi flag? Is this the 1940s? To say my head was spinning is an understatement. … Continue reading
Black Lives Matter. I do not want to trivialize the plight of the black race in America. I will never know what it is to be black. I am not the recipient of a heritage that is the result of centuries of enslavement, degradation and having my very personhood stripped away. So when young black … Continue reading
I first heard about the Orlando shootings on Sunday morning at church. I tend to go into a cocoon starting on Friday nights to focus on my sermon so I was out of the news loop when it happened. Since then I have spent several days trying to wrap my head around it, and our … Continue reading
I know this won’t be popular. I know it will be hard for many to swallow. I am not posting this to start an argument, so comments are turned off. I am posting this to make the Christian think. So please, pray over this before you share or sound off on it. You can’t have … Continue reading
In 2008 I was asked to teach Art to elementary age students. Up until that time I had taught primarily middle and high school aged youth at a private Christian school in Maryland. The need arose and I accepted the challenge. How hard can it be? It was hard. Very, very hard. The curriculum was … Continue reading
In his classic work, The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard uses the illustration of a fighter pilot who crashed his jet into the sea as a metaphor for our culture. The reason he crashed? In flying maneuvers he became disoriented and confused the sea for the sky, and despite all his best efforts to rectify the problem, … Continue reading
Are you looking for a way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day that doesn’t involve green beer, pinching people or scouring your closet for that one green shirt? Then allow me to offer up some suggestions. As an American of Irish descent, the Emerald Isle’s patron saint holds a special place in my heart. So if … 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
It’s happened again. A well-known conservative makes a thoughtful and astute observation, and the supposedly more-tolerant left goes off the deep end. This time the conservative was reality show star Jessa Dugger. She decided to reflect on the deep impact visiting the Holocaust museum had on her, and she compared it to the practice of … Continue reading
The Pondering Preacher 