Camp Compassion is our online VBS, where we are learning that compassion means: “I see your hurt, I feel your hurt with you, and I’ll work to ease your hurt.” This week we chatted about how compassion helps us be brave. I was turning that phrase over in my head,“compassion helps us be brave” , […]
I do not know when my mother gave me this doll, but I am pretty sure, I was the only boy on my lily white block with a Black Power doll. I wish y’all could have known my mother. Joann Sims Purdue taught in the most economically challenged school in our town. She was hired […]
I lived at home while going to the University of Kentucky and worked at the YWCA Afterschool program. Every weekday, I parallel parked a 15 passenger van in two school zones, played Whiffle ball, soccer, went swimming, double dutched, went to the library, and helped with homework. It was a great job! As a […]
It had been raining for two weeks, and the forecast called for thunderstorms. Everybody wanted to get a game in. I am unsure of the benefits of organized league sports for four and five year olds, but I signed up to coach. Lily, with her big purple hair bows that matched our jersey, was set […]
Today is Trinity Sunday, where we consider: God in three persons. All week, I considered leaving this lectionary theme to address the newscycle. However, perhaps our understanding of God might guide our living with each other. If God exists in relationship what does that mean for our relationships with each other? Years ago, an elementary […]
I watched the C-span video of President Trump standing in front of the boarded up “church of the presidents.” He was holding someone’s Bible. For a minute, he seems to be trying to figure out the best way to hold it aloft- clasping and shifting his grip. We pastors usually hold it up with two […]
Jesus grieved and grew angry at the church’s hardness of heart. (Mark 3). Compassion signals the presence of Christ. Jesus calls us to love others as ourselves- even strangers and opponents. Hard hearts allow us to regulate, isolate, and direct our love to people like us. The Incarnation shatters these boundaries by entering human suffering. […]
Things looked bleak in the Thirty Second chapter of Jerimiah. Babylon had laid siege to Jerusalem. Famine, fire, and disease engulfed Jerusalem. King Zedeikiah imprisoned Jeremiah for telling the truth. Inside prison, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah prompting the prophet to purchase a field. Jeremiah ensured the parchment contract would endure by […]
Sunday, I stepped to the pulpit, anointed my hands with sanitizer, and fumbled with how to best remove my mask before preaching. We are wearing masks to model compassion and identify with our vulnerable neighbors. The mask is an outward sign of our inner commitment to “watch over one another in love.” Unfortunately, my mask’s […]
The Acts’ 17 story sadly mirrors todays’ headlines. Imagine, a crowd fired up by their reactionary preachers. They rally in the Thessalonian square to defend traditional values. They shout down new ideas. The people turn violent and attack Jason’s house. They hope to bring Paul and Silas to justice before the people. Unable to find […]
