We’re having a heat wave. It’s spring and we’ve already had over ten days with temperatures above 90 degrees. That usually doesn’t happen in Atlanta until late July or August. But it’s happened in May. Given the weather, when the workers from the lawn care service arrived late in the… Read More »Faith in Our Communities
We stood in front of a series of fish tanks nearly two stories high. All kinds of sea creatures were in the tanks, many of which I had not seen before. Tanks like these were lined up for several blocks along the waterfront. This wasn’t some sort of aquarium. No,… Read More »A Place at the Table
Belief in a deity: it’s a debate that’s often framed in predictable ways. Either a person believes in God or is an atheist. Or a person believes in the Christian God or a Muslim God or a Hindu God.. Or perhaps one has made money, power, or prestige a deity.… Read More »What God do You Believe In?
My mother was a remarkable woman. A child of the Great Depression, she grew up in a company-owned coal town in rural Pennsylvania. She grew to become a gracious woman who was clear thinking, well-informed, determined, and who always had a kind word for others. Most people today don’t know… Read More »Important Lessons from My Mother
There is one pivotal event in the sacred story of Christianity which is crucial for understanding what it means to be a follower of Jesus. That is the resurrection of Jesus. The good news at the heart of the Christian message described in the New Testament is not that Jesus… Read More »Resurrection Where It Counts
What’s it like to be on the inside? How is being on the inside different from being on the outside? As I walk through my neighborhood, I pass the homes of my neighbors. I have impressions about what it’s like to be inside of those homes, to be members of… Read More »Inside and Outside
The ancient story is retold each year throughout the world. On the first day of the week, the women went before dawn to the place where they laid his body. Arriving at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. His body was gone. Scholars tell us that the first… Read More »Making Sense of the Resurrection of Jesus
Crucifixion: truly a brutal, violent way to kill another human being. A person hangs naked on a cross with lungs filling with fluid, struggling to breathe, and then succumbing after hours of struggle to the inevitable last gasp and death. All the while, one’s suffering is a public spectacle. Such… Read More »Making Sense of the Crucifixion of Jesus
