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) […]
I love VBS, I guess the first time I ever taught or preached was for Mrs. Wells’ 4th grade VBS class as a 12 year old Moses with a bathrobe, an elastic banded gray beard, two tablets fashioned from spray painted kickboards and a memorized script! Our scriptures today and next week are the lessons […]
What has nourished you? What has carried you to this place where you now stand? If I was to think of a symbol of what fed me as a child, I could place a mason jar of homegrown green beans on the altar. Every summer, we picked bushel baskets of beans at the family farm, […]
On Tuesday, I was stuck. My Trinity Sunday was bogged down and going nowhere. At our weekly worship planning, I shared this stuckness with Heather, Kate, Emma and Matt. Maybe my mire began with a Trinity Sunday children’s sermon, where a well meaning leader explained the Trinity with the three leaves of the shamrock, only […]
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