Evil defies reason. Reasonable people do not blow up innocent humans. Reasonable people do not plant bombs that kill, maim and destroy. Reasonable people may make lots of stupid mistakes, may indeed bring harm to others, but they still don’t set out to rip limbs off people who have come out to relax, play, show the results of years of hard work and celebrate a great tradition. Evil does these things. Evil destroys innocence. Evil loves fear and terror. Evil... Read more
I received a gift this morning. A gift so full of love and hope that I am still nearly breathless. Several years ago, Vicki Attaway made her way to the church I serve, having heard that there was a female pastor there and that she might find it welcoming and comfortable. Within a short period of time, I discovered that Vicki, as am I, is a graduate of Rice University. An immediate and unbreakable bond formed. There are few of... Read more
There has been a delightful movement started among the clergy women of the North Texas Conference whereby they are asking all clergywomen to wear red high heels on the Monday of Annual Conference as a sign of our connection and our solidarity with one another. One quote, apocryphally attributed to Kathleen Baskin-Ball reads, “you haven’t preached until you’ve preached in a pair of red heels.” The tradition apparently dates to wonderful memories of Cathy Bingman’s ordination. But I won’t be... Read more
Many of us hold beliefs in an afterlife of some sort. However, we have significant disagreement in how we think that afterlife will work as we hold mutually contradictory descriptions. For example, if heaven for one man equals having seventy virgins to deflower as he wishes, then that person’s heaven equals hell for others. If one person’s heaven means being surrounded only by like-minded people, the majority of humanity will be denied entrance. My point: if our versions of the afterlife mean that... Read more
It is Holy or Black Saturday and I’m deep in a place of emotional and spiritual pain. Last night, at Tenebrae, as I was leading the service, I saw again the shock of the disciples. I saw their need to flee, their betrayal, and the aloneness of Jesus when he faced his accusers. My tears began to flow. That time of utter desolation for Jesus stands as final proof of undeserved love. But I bet Jesus’s closest followers did not... Read more
Me: “OK, God, can’t you see that I’m in the midst of doing all this for You? Look at all the services we’ve planned! See how creative they are! We’re doing such a great job telling that Passion Week and Easter story. So, that being the case, how about you take all this other stuff away? You know, as in, ‘Let this cup pass from me.'” God, “I think you may be missing something.” Above was the conversation taking place... Read more
While idling some time away playing computer solitaire and thinking about Easter, it dawned on me how much we humans like to grapple with puzzling things. Early and often favorite childhood toys are jigsaw puzzles. Big, heavy, easy-to-manipulate shaped puzzles fill toy boxes of many a toddler. I know few children who don’t like solving them over and over again. It gives such satisfaction to fit the final piece and say, “It is finished.” As we age, our puzzles grow... Read more
What a waste. Twice a year, a large team of people head to the Texas Youth Correctional facility in Corsicana, TX. There they lose three days and spend a huge amount of money feeding, caring for, speaking with and offering grace and love to some of the incorrigible adolescent males incarcerated there. Many of those troubled kids will be transferred straight to an adult correctional facility when they turn 18. In the meantime, they are there for a reason. Someone,... Read more
The race card project (http://theracecardproject.com/) has been inviting people to send in six word descriptions about their experience of race. According to a story I heard this morning, this idea came from an Ernest Hemingway challenge for writers to come up with a complete story in six words. Here was his contribution: “Baby shoes, brand new, never worn.” I started thinking about describing the life of the pastor in six words. This came to mind immediately: “Loves God, loves people,... Read more
Nick Belton, a young “guru” on the digital age, offered a recent rant about excess text messages, especially ones that say things like “thank you.” Belton hates wasting even one extra minute on any communication medium that does not serve his immediate purpose. He finds phone calls and voice mail particularly offensive, saying: My father learned this lesson last year after leaving me a dozen voice mail messages, none of which I listened to. Exasperated, he called my sister to... Read more
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