Jeff and friends, This is long overdue and I am happy to be able to be a part of this and give my ideas, feelings and thoughts. “Theology from Death Row” I am excited to do this yet at the same time a little nervous! Smile! Before I begin I’d like to share some love and thanks to the people in my life that have helped me deal and mourn the lose of 2 family members and a dear friend. ... Read more
We have garnered much attention around throughout Dallas and Fort Worth and around the Metroplex for the cause of abolishment. We are very tired…but though our journey has ended…we will not stop walking and struggling for justice. Tarrant County District Attorney Joe Shannon, Jr. has consistently pursued the death penalty and we have not forgotten that fact. Every step we took today brought us one step closer to the day when there will never be another sentence of death... Read more
This morning we are gathered here in Dallas as a faith community to express our frustration at Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. We have grown tired of hearing about his moral opposition to the death penalty. When people are being sentenced to death and executed…moral opposition to the death penalty is not enough. We do not want to see one more death sentence come from Dallas County or anywhere else in Texas for that matter. The Texas Coalition... Read more
February 21, 2014 Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, Good morning. We bring you greetings on behalf of the hundreds of faith leaders who have joined the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. We must begin with commendations. We commend you for your pursuit of exonerations. We commend you for your honest assessment of the many race-based biases and injustices within our justice system. We even commend you for your often-declared moral opposition to the death penalty. ... Read more
On February 21, 2014, I will walk prayerfully from Dallas to Fort Worth with my colleagues from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Rev. Wes Magruder of the North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and Lynn Walters of Hope for Peace and Justice. Our Faithful Pilgrimage to Abolish the Death Penalty will begin with a press conference in Dallas and end with a rally and press conference in Fort Worth. We intend to speak... Read more
Rarely do I preach a similar sermon in the same day…but today is an exception. This morning at Prism Denton we discussed the man with the withered hand found in Mark 3. Jesus approached the man with the withered hand and asked him to extend it. In an instance…the withered hand was healed. Truth be told, I have been stuck on that withered hand all day. The extension of the withered hand was a very vulnerable act of exposure... Read more
There was a man with a withered hand. Jesus approached the man with the withered hand and asked him to extend it. In an instance…the withered hand was healed. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your purview, I think Jesus is a secondary character in this episode. The main character is the man with the withered hand. It is interesting that Jesus asked the man to extend his withered hand. I believe the gentleman probably kept the hand stuffed... Read more
I woke up one morning last week and this message was posted on the wall of one of our church Facebook pages, “This church is the sickest of sick. The evilest of evil. The vilest of vile.” I deleted the comment like I do to all other queerphobic comments that are sent to us. Later in the morning, I had a conversation with someone I had not spoken with in some time and she quickly became enraged when she... Read more
I believe in God…but most of all I believe in love. If we believe the writer of 1 John, God and love are synonymous terms. The question of the death penalty is a question of love. How far will our love and forgiveness extend? Will our love span the entire cycle of violence from the crime victims all the way to those who sit on death row to everything in between and beyond? Can you love someone and execute... Read more
“Jesus hung on a cross for a long time and had plenty of time to abolish the death penalty…but you know what…he didn’t.” These types of arguments and similar words filled the pulpit of the Southern Baptist Church of my youth. I was taught that the economy of God revolved around vengeful wrathful and the constant exchanging of death for death. I had never cried at a movie before…but the depiction of the relationship between Sister Helen Prejean... Read more
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