Spiritual genius An evening with Krista Tippett Human beings are the earth’s most complex and perplexing creatures. The human creature remains a mystery that can’t yet be solved or understood in its many depths. Thus began Krista Tippett in her…
Read MoreAsh Wednesday
Love, Courage and Trust for Lent I wasn’t ready for this week. It’s been theological and emotional whiplash. And we’re only to Wednesday. The Grammy Awards, the State of the Union address, my daughter’s mid-winter teacher conference and three-day break,…
Read MoreTransfiguration Sunday
The Beauty of Need To want. To need. To love. Surely this is what lit up the face of Moses? Want. Need. Love. Awe. “Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two…
Read MoreEpiphany I
Even the Sparrow Finds a Home tuesday this morning I stepped outside into the unseasonably warm air to be embraced by birdsong carried like a child on the arms of everything new did Mary hold Jesus like any overwhelmed teenaged mother…
Read MoreAdvent III
“Bless our loved ones everywhere” The third Sunday of Advent* is upon us, and I don’t know about you, but the power of overwhelming circumstances seems to be at every turn. Semesters are ending for students. Financial budgets are coming…
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Advent I : A Parable of Self Sufficiency and Vulnerability
“Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees’” (Luke 21:29) A Parable of Self Sufficiency and Vulnerability (2012) I step up to check my bag at the curbside valet stand. The early December…
Read MoreOrdinary Time XVII
Abstract: As the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention exerts enormous political influence, especially in the South. For the past three decades the nature and role of women have been bitterly contested in the denomination. Despite prevailing religious conservatism, feminism has been a significant dynamic in Baptist battles and has influenced even conservative rhetoric about women.
Read MoreOrdinary Time XVI
Many motivations led me to this short remembrance of Nell Magee. She was a salty saint, with a sharp tongue and a sharp wit. She never shied away from conflict, nor was she afraid to admit when she was wrong. She is the kind of person I want my daughter and the next generation of Christ followers to know and to esteem.
Read MoreOrdinary Time XV
A Turn to Lived Experience
The study, practice, and knowledge of big ideas in psychology and religion are shifting and changing in the twenty-first century. One of the most substantial changes is that deep thinking about big ideas demands an engagement with the lived experience of real people and situations.
Ordinary Time XIV
The number of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches currently pastored by women?
Five Percent.
Eighteen hundred churches. Ninety women.
You do the math.
This is good news. But somehow laying out the starkness of that figure . . . well, it doesn’t exactly add up to great news.
Ordinary Time XIII
Six Word Stories from England About a year ago I discovered Six Word Story Everyday. It’s a fun way to tell a story using only six words. Along the way over the past year, I’ve posted a number of these short story-pictures,…
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Ordinary Time XII
Ecclesiology and Ethnography: Take Two September is lovely time to visit England. I entered and departed the U.K. through London. The city is England’s gateway to the world and recently played host to the Olympic and Paralympic summer games. A…
Read MoreOrdinary Time XI
Beach Memos I took more time away from this blog than I intended. But apparently I needed the rest. Part of my time away was spent at the beach. Over the next few weeks I plan to share a few…
Read MoreOrdinary Time X
rain after days on end of mercury topping the charts it is sweet relief waking to soft drumming rain on leaves outside my window low clouds churn and roil and my daughter says to the thunder that’s the sound of…
Read MoreOrdinary Time IX
Sermon: “Generous Undertaking” Preached at Glendale Baptist Church on Sunday, July 1, 2012 Here it is in full. Sermon “Generous Undertaking” 07-01-2012 (You will need to click the link again on the next page.)
Read MoreOrdinary Time VIII
Sacred Six-Word Stories This idea came from Six Word Story Everyday. At that site contributors offer pictures worth a lot of words, but they only use six to tell each story. Since last fall I’ve posted a number of these…
Read MoreOrdinary Time VII
“Generous Undertaking” ( II Corinthians 8: 7-15) Sermon Preview Tomorrow’s sermon is ready, but tonight, I’m just giving a preview. The only genuine Olympic event I ever attended was a women’s basketball game in 1996 at the Atlanta Games (pictured here).…
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CBF General Assembly 2012 Top Ten Favorite Moments This year’s Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly was big. For starters it was in Texas where the hats, the egos and the Convention Center all compete for biggest and best. But beyond…
Read MoreOrdinary Time V
Traveling Along I’m coming to the end of a three-part trip. It has been too much to cram into one stretch away from home. Each part has been excellent. But back-to-back-to-back has been the challenge. I don’t mind the travel…
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