Years ago I was the grand marshal of the gay pride parade in Phoenix. Staying in my hotel was a large group of adolescent girls. One afternoon, as I was waiting for the elevator, I could tell there was a car full of them about to disembark. I could hear their shrill voices coming down the shaft and through the closed door. Before it opened, I heard a girl shriek, “I’d never be caught dead in that.” As a dozen... Read more

Like Mary and Simon Peter and the gang, we cannot be silent witnesses of the resurrection. If it has any power, it must change our lives, and it must empower us to be party to changing our world. The body of Jesus was not proof of the resurrection, but the Body of Christ was. Those scared and scattered disciples were changed and never slowed down in their mission to change the world. They were raised up by hope and became... Read more

Thea Bowman was a Roman Catholic nun. She was also the granddaughter of a slave and the daughter of a doctor who was not permitted to practice medicine in the hospital in their hometown in Mississippi because of his race. She became a nun because she was so impressed with the Franciscan Sisters’ work on behalf of African-Americans in Mississippi. Thea Bowman died of bone cancer in 1990. Before she died, she was invited to speak to a meeting of... Read more

In the movie “The Shawshank Redemption,” Andy Dufresne is a young banker wrongly convicted of murder. He refused to be a victim, though, and worked to give education and hope to those doing time in Shawshank Penitentiary. At one point in the movie, Andy locks himself in the warden’s office and plays a recording of Mozart over the prison’s loudspeaker. Here is how his friend and fellow prisoner Red described that moment: I have no idea what those two Italian... Read more

For some of us it is just a legend that might or might not be true. It is old and dusty and, either way, has little to do with what we will have to do at work to get ahead. We are a bit like Wilbur Rees who wrote: I would like to buy $3 worth of God. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep. Just enough to make me feel like a cup of warm milk... Read more

Johnny wasn’t happy to leave his Easter basket behind to go to church. His new shoes pinched his feet, and he was certain the tie around his neck was designed to choke him. In the car, he kept kicking the back of the seat, and, when his mother scolded him, he said, “I don’t know why we have to go to church on Easter. They tell the same story every year; it always comes out the same.” Well, Johnny has... Read more

And so we come to the end of our Lenten journey. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. I always have mixed feelings about Holy Week. Part of me is glad to see it, because I am ready for Lent to be over. Another part of me is a little panicked. Another Lent is almost over, and I haven’t made nearly as much spiritual progress as I had hoped I would. Easter will be here soon, and... Read more

So, I’ve been back in Georgia a little more than three years. After spending most of my adult life in Texas, I must admit that I was guilty of a bit of nostalgia at the prospect of moving home. In particular, I was exhausted by the relentlessly right-wing nature of Texas politics. Although we made great progress in Dallas, it felt like the rest of the state was determined to move backward to a more repressive, discriminatory, and callused age.... Read more

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. That is how psychiatrist M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled begins. The late Dr. Peck thought that realizing... Read more

G.W. Target wrote a short story in 1973 called “The Window.” It illustrates powerfully the choice we all have of living for self or living for others. Preachers have used it repeatedly, but, as Lent draws to a close, perhaps we need to hear it again: Two men were confined to a hospital room due to their illnesses. One man had to lie on his back at all times; the other had to sit up for one hour every day... Read more