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 […]
Tag Archives: christianity
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
I’ve always loved watching a campfire, how the flames dance up into the night sky. In the Biblical age, fire provided any light at night, made possible every cooked meal, kept people warm, and forged pottery or metal. As a child hearing the Pentecost story, I got lost in the wonder of the tongues of […]
Dear Belmont Friends, Last week, after 52 years of language incompatible with God’s boundless grace and love, our United Methodist Church General Conference removed the harmful language from our Book of Discipline. We no longer name some of God’s beloved children as incompatible. The UMC no longer bars churches or pastors from celebrating same sex […]
Last weekend, I joined our confirmation retreat along with 14 seventh and eighth graders. Our teens asked great questions like “why is our denomination splitting up?” I felt drawn to the whiteboard and with help from Faith Friend Dr. Michael Stephens I drew a timeline of church splits: Christianity from Judaism 45AD, Roman Catholic […]
Last Tuesday, after what we church workers call Easter Monday, I looked at my sermon text and I wondered why I laid out a sermon series rooted in First John. Unlike most of the Bible, First John does not tell a story, at least not in a traditional sense with a storyline, plot, and characters. […]
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