Our lectionary reading comes from the Book of First Kings. Kings, like Samuel and Chronicles, reads like history but lifts up some events while completely ignoring others. “Kings” is concerned with one thing: “Did the king do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” ( 1 Kings 16) After that moral assessment Kings reflects very […]
Every January we celebrate Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. Someone will dip their fingers in the water and make the sign of the cross on your forehead or hand saying, “Remember your baptism and be thankful.” When dropping me off at a high school party in 1983, my dad looked right at me and said, […]
Sometime Tuesday evening or maybe even days later, we will know our next president and the makeup of the 2025 congress. When things become clear, if the polls are correct, roughly half of our nation will feel disappointed as the other half celebrates. This is a consequential election with the stakes heightened by social media […]
In his groundbreaking book, “Jesus and the Disinherited”, Howard Thurman tells how his grandmother, Nancy Ambrose and his mother were both born into slavery in the American South. When his mother died, Thurman’s grandmother Nancy Ambrose raised Howard. One of Thurman’s regular chores was reading the Bible aloud to his grandmother, who could neither read […]
As the waiter placed the meal on our table, my friend asked if I would offer the blessing. When I said, “Amen” my friend said “You forgot to say ‘the hands that provided it’.” I’m not sure anyone had critiqued my prayer aloud since seminary, so it took me a minute to figure out what […]
Luke tells us that 72 disciples had just returned from an immersion experience, teaching about God’s kingdom and offering healing to the crowds. The disciples and Jesus returned full of joy. Luke writes, “Jesus overflowed with joy from the Holy Spirit”. There is a deep soul-level joy that flows from giving ourselves freely to God […]
There are just two books in the Bible named after women: Ruth and Esther. I wish the church had better saved the Easter experiences of Mary, Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, a preacher Matthew calls “the other Mary” (Matthew 28 & Luke 24) The church gave us a book called Timothy, but not […]
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, […]
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 […]
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