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 […]
Tag Archives: Bible
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 […]
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 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. […]
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, […]
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