Pandemic Permission Project. Sometimes we need that extra little bump of encouragement. We need permission to focus on care for ourselves and care for our beloved communities. Pandemic Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you’re tired of hearing about the pandemic.…
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Bridges I have an invitation for you. But first an image. You’ve heard of the Bridge on the River Kwai? A Bridge over Troubled Waters? How about the Bridge to Terabithia? War. Grief. Escape. The search for relief. A bridge…
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I was chatting recently with a friend. Don Flowers is a pastor in Canada. We’ve been traveling in the same circles for years. He’s a funny guy and while we were catching up, he said to me something like, “Hey…
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Recently someone asked me: Why did you feel compelled as a person of faith to march on Saturday? I’m a Love-God and Love-Your-Neighbor type of Christian. I believe that love is to be practiced with heart, mind, soul, and strength.…
Read MoreLaugh, Cry, Do a Happy Dance Almost exactly six years ago, I decided to make the final push to finish my dissertation – after three years of writing fits and starts and many life pauses, including the birth of my…
Read MoreEven 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 MoreChoosing and Praying a Breath Prayer Praying a breath prayer is just what it sounds like. To pray as you follow your breath – using words – connects the body to the sacred. And praying a breath prayer can open…
Read MoreBreathing a Prayer Let everything that has breath praise the Creator. When we lived in Georgia parishioners there introduced us to the amaryllis. Every year a pot with a gigantic bulb would appear on my desk during Advent. By the…
Read MoreWisdom and Folly “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” Psalm 111:10 January has been a full month for me. It has held more travel than usual, intensive…
Read MoreEmbodied Knowing vs. Rational Calculation Tonight I saw the latest Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as the good Dr. Watson. When the sequel, “A Game of Shadows” was announced, I was reminded of an early…
Read MoreA New Day Dawning What’s that sound? The stirring wind of a new day. As the sun rose this morning over Lake Michigan, a new day in Baptist scholarship also dawned. It was not simply the panel presentation at the…
Read MoreLegacies of Southern Seminary Friday, March 4, about 35 people gathered in Louisville, Kentucky only two miles from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) to think about the legacies of the school.* We met at Highland Baptist Church, one of…
Read Morefirst daffodil first daffodil of the season tilts her head shyly whispering a promise of spring luminously shining like the sun itself surrounded only by shades of green making me long for a life that shines so cleanly so simply so…
Read MoreWe incorporate (take into the body) all kinds of memories, postures and gestures that do work quite apart from or despite our best thinking or rational attempts to change. Many of the practices (and wisdom) of the body happen at unconscious and preverbal levels. The way we hold ourselves and move through space entails a deep sort of “knowing” that we rarely think about or notice.
Read MoreBehold the Beauty Last night the moon rose behind a scrim of swiftly moving clouds racing off to the east like they had an engagement not to be missed meanwhile back here on the ground the warm breath of an…
Read MoreThis week the Gospel reading holds one of the hardest sayings of Jesus. At least for me. Matthew 5:43-44: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” This one is hard not so much because I have a lot of clearly defined enemies. Although I suppose I do have a few. And no doubt, I’ve made some.
Read MoreHospitality (Part IV) This series on hospitality began several posts ago in a Fellowship Hall not far from here. Tonight I want to invite you back to that same Fellowship Hall . . . about seven years ago. It was…
Read MoreHospitality (Part II) I’ve been rearranging my office space. Moving shelves and seats, the antique church pew, and other furniture. I’ve been rearranging books and things on shelves. I’m in search of a small round table to expand the creative…
Read MoreWe looked around the room. Then we did a little mental head scratching. Half the fellowship hall had been cleared. Now to set things up. We’ve all done this before.
Read MoreaNxIeTy
you can’t live without a little of it
stepping into oncoming traffic would be your end
but a plunge into the waters of anxiety
whether for a moment or a long thrashing swim
is anything but pleasant
