Leaving my car in the outer reaches of the enormous parking lot, I walked for what seemed like blocks toward the end of the line — wherever that was. Several other people were walking near me, craning their necks trying to catch a glimpse of where they should take a...
https://youtu.be/ZfPdSdCsKr0 We ask the wrong questions. All the time. Maybe it’s the former journalist in me, but I always yearn for us to ask better questions. Lest you think I get it right all the time, I promise you I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. In my...
https://youtu.be/BqdBo1dH6AQ “It’s Not About You.” If Dr. Haldeman was giving you a “talk” that included this phrase, you were not being your best self. Seminary classmates and I grew accustomed to hearing these words from my worship professor and advisor, Dr. Scott...
One of my goals lately has been to keep myself uncomfortable. For white people like me, it is far too easy to tune out the suffering caused by hundreds of years of enslavement, segregation, and mass incarceration of Black people in the U.S. We are made more...
***** Upcoming events! ***** The ideas in this blog are indebted to a number of people of color who have been writing, thinking, speaking and teaching about anti-racism much longer than I have. Here are a few links and resources that really influenced me this week:...
You may only know that Lent is a Christian season during which practitioners, “give something up,” as a spiritual practice. You may even know it is a season for preparing for Easter, or a big change more generally. This Lent which began for Christians on Feb. 26 has...
This post is the third in a series exploring the practice of Drishti (focus on a particular point, traditionally in meditation or yoga poses). In light of the extremely heated political and social debate occurring around the nomination and confirmation of Brett...
I had just finished a morning run. Dripping with sweat and in desperate need of a shower, I noticed my phone ringing. Ivy Beckwith, my friend and colleague on the Faith Formation Team at the national UCC was calling. I was intrigued, but let the call go to voicemail...
Below is a letter I emailed (in two parts due to the 2,500 character limit on the site) to President Trump this morning. Regardless of your political persuasion, how might we take reasonable steps to assist the Syrian people? I know people out there are caring and...
In my New Year’s post, I wrote about the need to lean into discomfort in 2017 as a way of traveling a journey of hope. After a two weeks of a Trump presidency and more civil and political unrest than I have ever witnessed in my lifetime, I don’t feel I have to lean in...
This blog is part of my ongoing series of reflections on how the Wild Goose Festival gave me a glimpse into the just what the new emerging Christian church is becoming. The steady bubbling of the French Broad River served as the soundtrack to one of the best...