God can also be found in the Dark- Metalhead Film. Have you ever heard a sermon about grief? Was there an altar call afterwards? Should it have rather just been long wails or maybe weeping? The Sunday after my brother shot himself, I showed up at church. It was all so surreal. I moved around. Feeling hardly nothing. Just trying to keep it together. “You know, don’t want anyone thinking I might be crazy.” During worship, I just wept.... Read more
The quester The quester… that could describe my life and I like that! When I was seeking for meaning, the message of Ecclesiastes in the Bible about life as smoke + spitting into the wind spoke loud and true to my heart. Twenty seven years later, it still does. I confess the good news of the gospel to me was not Jesus and the cross but his truth of resurrection. Being part of the life force that gives hope even when... Read more
I’ve been called to a ministry of accompaniment that means I have chosen to walk with one or two people or a family, serially, one after the other, to be a support for whatever it is that they are going through. To me, emergent church in the world looks like the ministry of accompaniment. Grounded in scripture, I cling to Jesus’ new commandment to love others as Jesus loves me; by this I will be known as his disciple. [John... Read more
This week I leave for the first of three conferences I am working this month. I’m under-prepared for the first one, new kid on the block for the second one and probably should be working on something right now for the third one instead of writing these thoughts. In varying capacities, my job for each event could be described as “professional [read: perfect] Christian” or facilitator. In each instance I will have a microphone put in my hand, walk on... Read more
he wants to pray, but his head is full of philosophies theologies, theodicies, Divine Command Theories determinism cannot extend to mundanities divinity cannot be concerned about matters small as these (and that dark night when the world stopped) he wants to pray, but his hands are full of practicalities an entire car balanced over his head nuts and bolts frozen by winters past expensive peril at every turn defeat knocking at the garage door but when that $90 oxygen sensor held... Read more
I spent Holy Saturday at the Philadelphia FDC 3South floor with 12 incarcerated women attending a 2-day Heart to Heart retreat. I was there to share the gift of yoga and meditation. The women really appreciate our visits and openly express their desire to learn. Our last exercise was an eye-gazing and I was partnered with Smoke, an African American woman of about 35. Smoke smiled a lot and agreed that she was willing to try it but admitted it... Read more
I have resisted this post all week, and now I find myself on Good Friday, the day that Christians remember the death of Jesus who died perversely on a cross. It brings to mind the many black and brown bodies who die at the hands of police violence, another perverse cross that exists in our nation (and world). In many ways, I resist this moment for I know it takes us all into the silence of Saturday, the unknown of... Read more
What an awkward day this past Sunday was, Palm Passion Sunday. Or maybe that’s just how I feel about Palm Passion Sunday. The tumblr feed EV’RY DAY I’M PASTORIN’… imagines Palm Passion Sunday like this: <http://everydayimpastoring.tumblr.com/post/114771705131/palm-passion-sunday> That awkward blending of two things that just down seem to go together. A shark and a horse. Is that what you think of when you think of Palm Passion Sunday? On the one hand celebrating the triumphant and yet unexpected arrival of Jesus... Read more
This homily was delivered as part of an ongoing Lenten Series around the themes and images of Lent. In the Beginning In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, she planted a garden. And the story goes that from the dirt of that garden God formed two people. At first God and the people lived as friends, co-creator in the garden, but eventually this partnership doesn’t work out. We don’t really know why, the text says something about... Read more
Last night, Anthony Smith (aka Postmodern Negro) and I celebrated our 10-year friendiversary with an impromptu livestream conversation, recorded and shared here for posterity. During our hour-long conversation, we reminisce about the last decade of emerging church conversation, our local involvement in the Charlotte Emergent cohort group (which is still going, by the way!), and the power of friendship (among many other things, including the 15 books Anthony is reading right now!). As Anthony said during our conversation, “You’re only... Read more
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