Shrove Tuesday is usually a final frivolous frolic before the serious reflection of the season of Lent. Our congregation was to gather this evening, but, the weather has prevented it. We were all looking forward to this chance to feast on pancakes and celebrate our togetherness. Each year, we cheer one another during the pancake […]
Murky
Coming out of a class I had just led on death and dying, Bob pulled me aside to ask an easy question: “Is cremation a sin?” My quick “no” was just what he needed to ask his follow-up: “No? Well, it used to be. What happened?” Bob had been part of the church longer than […]
That They May Know and Believe (that I Believe)
Like many parents, I wonder whether my children will have faith. I think that’s why a particular quote I saw on Twitter this past Friday night affected me the way it did. The quote appeared repeatedly in a series of tweets sent from the sanctuary of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. Those tweeting were listening […]
Peeking Over the Momastery Walls: An Open Letter to Glennon Doyle Melton
Dear Glennon: My letter to you begins in confession. It’s not an exciting confession, mind you, like some that I have read. You know that kind of confession that seems like a whole lot of fun was had before the confessing began. (That may have been a little bit at you, but in the best possible way.) […]
There Are Those Who Thunder
There are some in whom life abounds. They possess an uncanny ability to see grace in all the places where others pass by unaware. They are the ones who see life as a banquet table filled with good things. They know what it means to laugh at simple pleasures, to see uncommon beauty in the […]
…But God Loves Us Anyway
“Nobody I’ve read challenged me as much as Will D. Campbell.” My friend Drew, a voracious reader and excellent writer himself, posted those words on Facebook a couple of days ago when he learned that one of the heroes of the civil rights movement had died. Who was Will Campbell? A liquor-loving Baptist preacher who […]