Here’s a prayer for Labor Day: Loving and laboring God, We thank you for the gift of labor. For many of us, work provides for our financial and material needs. For many of us, work fills our desire to do good in the world, and for many of us, work provides the structure for our days and meaning for our lives. But there are many people, God, for whom work means something different. Many who labor in underground economies, facing... Read more
Lesson One: She was referred by a friend to Star Light Ministries. She was desperate for help. Her daughter was stripping in a local club, and she didn’t know what to do. We talked some about the club, about the work her daughter was doing. And we talked about ways for her to stay connected to her daughter. I also invited the mother to give her daughter my phone number. Her daughter never called. I eventually met her in the... Read more
I know. It’s a terribly tasteless title. But I’ve laughed all week at a comment posted at the LATimes on one of the first articles about Todd Akin. The commenter wrote, “‘Rape Babies are a gift from God. —I’m Todd Akin, and I approved this message.” But the message is so much more deep than “rape babies are a gift from God.” It’s painful, victim-blaming, and especially theologically flawed. Survivors always have to make difficult decisions after the sexual assault.... Read more
…And I don’t feel so good myself, as the late great Lewis Grizzard said. In 1977, on August 16, I was living in Memphis, Tennessee. It was the summer before 4th grade. We lived in a small townhouse that we couldn’t afford to heat in the winter, but it was the summer. I remember the complex we lived in. I remember how the kids would all meet in a playground to swing on the swings. I remember that my brother... Read more
In my forthcoming book, I examine the first step of building a ministry for sex workers. A needs assessment. You’re basically trying to answer the question: “Does my town (city, state, nation) need a ministry for sex workers?” And why would you ask this question? First, because there is no sense in re-creating the wheel. If there’s a ministry in town already, then you probably don’t need one. Second, there are somewhat limited resources for organizations for sex workers. You... Read more
A sermon based on 1 Kings 19:3-8 I watched a movie this weekend called Machine Gun Preacher. It’s based on the life of Sam Childers, played by Gerard Butler, a former drug-dealing biker tough guy who finds God and and a calling. His calling is to save orphaned children from being conscripted into the Sudanese army. Childers builds an orphanage in Northern Uganda, close to the border of Sudan. Just after he finishes building the orphanage, raiders come across the... Read more
I’ve spent three days, on and off, watching The Color Purple. For the 15th (at least) time. I first saw it in college, way back when, in the theater. I remember sobbing in the theater. I remember the person (who I didn’t know) next to me asking, “Are you okay?” There are so many themes that resonated with me this time. There’s the strength of Sophia, who wouldn’t stand for Harpo beating her (her great quote: All my life I... Read more
The first time I saw the title of the new magazine, PLGRM, I thought, “Plagiarism?” Okay, no. It’s PILGRIM. And an awesome new magazine published by Landon Whitsitt. Landon asked me to write there, so I partnered with a friend, Rabbi Rebecca Ben-Gideon. We wrote about the joys of chavrutot. That’s study partners. Rebecca and I have been studying the Hebrew Bible, interfaith dialogue, and friendship for over 7 years. We wrote: You can download the first issue here. Read more
Betsy Carter writes: It’s easy to feel constrained by your own parameters. You look at your parents and the house in which you grew up and think, that’s it: These are the things that define my life, why bother to try and break out of them. As I look at my life, today, I’m identifying my parameters. And wondering how to feel less constrained from them. The roles that I’ve picked out for myself: pastor, writer, friend, daughter, girlfriend are... Read more
I heard this story around 9/11. There was a healer working on the back of a patient, in a bed. The healer would rub the patient’s back for a few minutes, then she would hold on to the bedpost for minute, then she would go back to rubbing the patient’s back. After 3 or 4 times of holding the bedpost, the patient finally asks: “Why do you keep holding the bedpost?” The healer answers, “Because I need to put this... Read more
Rogue Reverend
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