While in New Mexico this summer my friends Lauren and Amy and I drove into the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains to attend Mass at the historic Santuario de Chimayó. It was Pentecost Sunday.
A View from the Pew: Senior Adult Ministries by Any Other Name are Just as Sweet
February 21, 2023 by
What a church calls its senior adult ministry says a lot about who they are as a church. The names can be playful, serious, spiritual, frivolous or just plain corny.
Formations 02.19.2023: Solomon’s Charge
February 12, 2023 by
In today’s text, a father’s death approaches, and he thinks of the legacy he will leave to his son. Has he taught his son enough?
Formations 02.12.2023: An Imperfect King
February 5, 2023 by
In 1 Samuel, one of the first warning signs readers are given of King David’s eventual downfall is his sin with Bathsheba.
Connections 02.12.2023: Partners with God
February 5, 2023 by
I grew up in First Baptist Church of Warm Springs, Georgia, a very small town with a huge amount of history.
Formations 02.05.2023: Unfinished Business
January 29, 2023 by
Why do we have two different versions of Israel’s history in the Old Testament? The short answer is because humans always rewrite their history from time to time.
Connections 02.05.2023: Who Are We to Say?
January 29, 2023 by
For someone who claims to have come preaching to the Corinthians “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (v. 3), the Apostle Paul always seems to me to be very certain.
Connections 01.29.2023: Wisdom for the Here and Now
January 22, 2023 by
The city’s residents and visitors included educated Greek philosophers and faithful Jewish scholars alongside many other religious groups and ethnic traditions.
The Strains of Sermon Preparation
December 28, 2022 by
In my thirty-five years of preaching, I’ve notice a constant occurrence: Sunday comes every seven days. It’s relentless. The sermon, therefore, can’t be delayed to Monday or another day next week. Sunday comes whether I’ve had two funerals, a wedding, twelve hospital visits, a holiday, or a sick child.
Hallmark Just Doesn’t Get It
June 14, 2022 by
I don’t hate Father’s Day; it’s the Tuesday beforehand that I can’t stand. I drag myself to the grocery store, trudge to the card aisle, and stare at the never-ending wall of cards. There are dozens, hundreds of cards to sift through and I know that I will not find what I need the first few tries.
Crossroads: Jesus Is in Charge
June 6, 2022 by
As a teenager, I loved volunteering for Vacation Bible School. It felt like a promotion to be able to help. Suddenly, I was in charge (sort of). Instead of listening to what I was supposed to do, I was the one giving direction.
Crossroads: The Empty Tomb
April 18, 2022 by
I’ve believed in Jesus for as long as I can remember. I was in church almost from the moment I was born, and I don’t remember believing anything different.
The Sound of Silence
April 6, 2022 by
Silence. We experience it so infrequently, most of us wouldn’t even recognize it. We wake to loud alarms, the drip of brewing coffee, running water as we prepare for our day.
A Wild & Precious Easter
April 5, 2022 by
I had the opportunity to go on a much-needed vacation last week with my husband to sunny Key West. Because he had looked forward to this for weeks, he immediately wanted to book some excursions. We settled on a jet ski tour around the island and a boat trip that included snorkeling in the middle of the ocean.
Formations 03.06.2022: Born from Above
February 27, 2022 by
In the sliver of the Baptist family in which I grew up, Lent was something you brushed off your clothes. Honestly, anything past Christmas and Easter were looked upon with suspicion.
As Slow as Christmas
December 8, 2021 by
It was late on Christmas Day; the sun had set and my parents and I were somewhere between Yatesville and Barnesville on our way back home after the day-long celebration of Christ’s birth through the eating of food and the exchanging of gifts.
Lost in Maples
November 30, 2021 by
They wander, these children of mine. They wander and they wonder, and then boom, you take them out of their comfort zone and here comes the whining.
Champ and Sara
November 10, 2021 by
2021 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the births of Champ and Sara Ruffin. He was born on July 25, 1921, she on September 13. I want to honor them in this centennial year of their births.
Break the Huddle
October 6, 2021 by
The Fall is the most wonderful time of the year. Why? Football season. All three of my young boys play football; between them, that’s three games and a dozen practices every week.
Spiritual Growth: Polishing the Cup or Growing in Love?
October 5, 2021 by
People enter into the process of spiritual direction for many reasons, and sometimes it takes time and deep listening for me to discern the motivation. “Remember,” a mentor once cautioned, “the real director is the Holy Spirit. Our job is to discern the direction the Holy Spirit is wanting to guide the directee and cooperate with that.”
You (Plural) Are Not Lacking
September 15, 2021 by
“You Are Not Lacking.” That was the title of the sermon I planned to preach on Sunday, January 19. But before I got to it, on Friday, January 17, the daughter-in-law of some beloved church members went on a walk near the church in the afternoon and never came home. Her name is Leanne Hecht Bearden.
God’s Feminine Side Is Plain to See
September 7, 2021 by
Any half way decent theologian will tell you that God is decidedly not an old man on a throne in the sky. That this image of God persists somehow in the popular imagination, most likely has to do with some language we find in the Bible and the layers and layers of patriarchy involved in the whole shebang.
Easy Like Sunday Morning
August 31, 2021 by
Memories do fade, but some stick with you. Sunday mornings are times that I remember, and I’m not talking about church. Now, before you start to judge in any way, the experiences that I have and have had at church stick with me also. But not all of them.
Restorative Forgiveness, a Lenten Devotion
March 2, 2021 by
The second grade Sunday school class was visiting in the home of the pastor and his wife. The teacher had issued a strong warning to be careful in Reverend and Mrs. Cline’s home.
Mortal Love
February 17, 2021 by
Valentine’s Day fell on February 14 again this year. It’s regular like that. Ash Wednesday, on the other hand, moves around.
Truth Beneath the Ashes
February 16, 2021 by
Several years ago in Waco, TX, a couple hundred of us gathered for a crack-of-dawn Ash Wednesday service led by a team of seminary students. All kinds of folk—Baylor students, doctors, construction workers, grandparents—gathered at the shoreline of Lent, sleepy-eyed and somber.
See the Light
February 9, 2021 by
Leo Tolstoy once compared religious rules to the light given off by a lamp post. It is a bright light. It dispels the darkness. As long as man or woman stood in that light, he or she could see. But the lamp post had limitations, Tolstoy said.
The Night Before Advent
November 25, 2020 by
The calendar gave us an early Thanksgiving this year and it seems like it has been an eon between turkey and Advent. But I am ready for Advent. I need Advent right now. I need it more than I need Christmas.
Rescue
August 4, 2020 by
Batman asks Superman to come to Gotham City and talk to a girl in the hospital. Her foster parents were killed and her foster sister has been taken. To where? Up in the sky.
What Makes You Cry
July 15, 2020 by
It was summertime, sometime in the late 1960s. I was, as many children did (and I hope still do), participating in the public library’s summer reading program. I was reading Fred Gipson’s 1942 novel Old Yeller.
What I Wish the Evangelical Church Would Believe About Me
July 1, 2020 by
Here is what I wish my friends in the evangelical church would believe about me (for that’s the only person I can speak of) as someone who has gone outside the doors of that brand of Christianity: It was never about leaving Christ.
Jacob and Esau: Grudges and Humility
June 10, 2020 by
Like many women in the Bible, my mother waited a long time for my twin and I to be born: ten years. It is only natural that when you wait that long, or even when you don’t, you want your daughters to be best friends.
Hard Grace
April 29, 2020 by
It was extremely important for the church of my youth to prove that every single miracle in the Bible be proven as an historical and scientific fact. A literal seven day creation, the parting of the Red Sea, Joshua making the sun stand still, and of course, there was the story of “Jonah and the Whale.”
A View from the Pew: Lessons from Virtual Church
April 15, 2020 by
For regular church attenders, the isolation policies and shelter-in-place mandates of the COVID-19 pandemic have been felt most acutely on Sundays.
Connections 04.05.2020: The Cross and COVID-19
March 29, 2020 by
When the devil tested Jesus in the wilderness, he introduced two of his three challenges with, “If you are the Son of God” (Mt 4:3, 6). In refusing the devil’s challenges, Jesus declined to prove his identity on the devil’s terms.
THIS JUST OUT: Coronavirus and Kindness Are Both Contagious!
March 18, 2020 by
The Bible says to love your neighbor. Alternatively, some people on this earth apparently believe that the Bible says love your neighbor unless you are in a pandemic and shopping for groceries.
Lent. The Ugly Step-Sister Season.
March 11, 2020 by
Lent… It’s not Christmas, that’s for sure. It’s not a season when we’re hanging the holly and lighting the tree, twinkling and throwing gifts around like confetti and singing carols to strangers. It’s not a season that glitters.
Why I Love the Church Most on Ash Wednesday
February 26, 2020 by
I was reared as far from the Church as one can imagine. No Easter, Christmas, or Mother’s Day services for me, so this business about ashes seemed strange and at first a bit silly to me upon surrendering to Jesus at age 20.
Formations 03.01.2020: Keep Still
February 23, 2020 by
With the sea in front of them and the Egyptian army at their backs, Moses tell the Israelites, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today….”
Connections 03.01.2020: Replacing the Plug
February 23, 2020 by
It’s an image most of us are familiar with: the dropping of a stone into water produces ripples, which represent the ongoing effects of an action.
Formations 02.23.2020: The First Passover
February 16, 2020 by
Have you ever known someone who has lost a child? Maybe you have personally suffered that loss. I have been granted the awful privilege of walking with some families through this nightmare, and I can tell you that I have seen no comparable grief.
Connections 02.23.2020: Holy Imagination
February 16, 2020 by
Our high school English teacher Mrs. Powers was teaching us about similes and metaphors. “’The baby is like a rose,’” she said, “is a simile.”
Our Stories Will Probably Be Small, But They Will Matter
January 1, 2020 by
Sometimes I get discouraged because I feel like my story is very small. I live in a small city. I go to a small church in a land where churches can be quite enormous.
Rediscovering Centering Prayer
November 5, 2019 by
I went on a run yesterday. I’ve always wanted to be a runner but have never been able to cultivate the strength and endurance and discipline to bring that dream to life.
Dead Skunk (Possum, Squirrel, Armadillo) in the Middle of the Road
September 24, 2019 by
I tend not to notice roadkill until it’s too late. I’ll be driving merrily along, and I’ll feel that little bump from running over something that’s already dead. If my Good Wife is a passenger in the car I’m driving, she’ll cringe when I run over a dead animal.
Worship: Communion
September 3, 2019 by
The most intimate and meaningful family times I can remember are around a table. Whether it is just the immediate family or a larger gathering such as a family reunion, there is something very special about gathering for a meal.
Formations 09.08.2019: A Light in the Darkness
September 1, 2019 by
I have consciously been on my faith journey since I was about ten years old. Before that, as far back as I remember, my religious upbringing consisted of church three times a week and prayers before meals and bedtime.
Worship: Participation
August 27, 2019 by
Last week we read about Isaiah’s vision of God in the temple in chapter 6. Isaiah obviously heard God’s call and opened his heart to whatever God wanted to tell him.