I met Connie in the College and Career group at Rosemont Baptist. I was College: a freshman, She was a Career: a college graduate working as a Physical Therapist. One night after a Bible Study at John Wilkerson‘s house, Connie and I took a walk and somewhere along SpringHill Drive we kissed. A budding theologian, […]
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In her beautifully written book, “In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith and the Stories We Inherit” Yolanda Pearce, narrates her journey from growing up in a storefront black holiness pentecostal church in New York City to becoming the Dean of the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University, guided along the way by “Grandmother Theology”. Pierce […]
The Bible begins with two stories: the Creation Hymn and the Garden of Eden story. The stories just appear without introduction, named author, source, origin, or timestamp. The Book of Isaiah begins “in the days of Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah”. (Isaiah 1). Matthew presents a long genealogy. Revelation notes that John’s vision […]
On a Sunday morning, a few years ago, Connie and I found ourselves in my hometown. When the worship times at Methodist Churches we belonged to did not jibe with our schedule, we decided to go to the church that I grew up in. We arrived a bit late and sat in the back. During […]
My mother, a fourth grade teacher and Senior High Sunday School Teacher, upheld language rules. When I was in middle school, one of dad‘s younger brothers came to visit and cursed at the table. Mom joked about needing to wash out his mouth with soap. Uncle Dave, feeling himself, smiled and repeated the foul word […]
I recently read an online comment that began, “Speaking as a Christian…” and proceeded to tell the metaverse exactly what they believed. Now, “as a Christian,” I disagreed with almost everything that particular Christian said. I imagine they would disagree with me. What struck me was the phrase, “as a Christian.” When my doctor says, […]
God of compassion, comfort and wholeness, We come grieving the violence that sickens our souls and traumatizes our land. We lift up former President Trump, a victim of gun violence, We ask for his physical and spiritual healing. God of resurrection, renewal and reconciliation, bring healing to all who are wounded, traumatized and grieving. May […]
I was 11 years old and my church league basketball team was playing Immanuel Baptist. Immanuel had this tall kid, Big 33, who I was supposed to guard. We couldn’t stop him. Between the quarters, our coach, let’s call him Coach Rupp, pulled me to the side and laid out a detailed plan that involved […]
In 1976, I found myself in the summer school reading program. One of the few perks of summer school was representing Lexington Fayette Urban County Public Schools in Lexington’s Fourth of July parade. They asked us to dress as our favorite character from American history. I knew I wanted to dress as a Native American. […]
In college my friend Jim read a little book by a TV preacher and latched onto a single verse, “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened” (Luke 11) […]
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