Each year, the question is asked again. It becomes part of the discussion in churches and groups of Christians, both in person and in virtual settings. What are you giving up for Lent? The answers include favorite foods, like desserts or chocolate. Some give up the use of social media. … Read More »The Lenten Fast: It’s More Than Giving Up Sweets
Freedom and Liberty. We hear the words used a great deal today. In many ways, they are key values in Western culture. For the French, liberty is understood in the context of equality and fraternity. In the United States, the phrase “liberty and justice for all” is a similar bedrock… Read More »Freedom and Liberty: The Spiritual Dimension of Cultural Values
With less than two weeks before election day in the United States, I find it appropriate to re-visit what I wrote shortly after the election in 2016. In four years, most people in the United States are worse than they were before while the top tier is better off. We’ve… Read More »Reflecting on the Election as a Progressive Christian Minister
It’s a famous quote we usually attribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” King used this quote in 1958 in an article he wrote for a periodical called The Gospel Messenger. He was likely quoting… Read More »The Bending of the Arc of the Moral Universe
I don’t remember the year, but the memory is very clear. I’m guessing it happened in 1968 or 1969. My classmates and I took a school field trip to Washington, D.C. We visited the monuments and one or two of the Smithsonian Museum buildings. What stood out most was the… Read More »Creating Change: Toward a Better Society
In the early 1990’s, I moved to South Florida where I lived for about five and a half years. One of the first things I noticed was the number of cars with the same bumper sticker. Red letters on a white background simply stated: Love your neighbor. I never knew… Read More »Love Your Neighbor
I’ve just returned from Oberlin College outside of Cleveland, Ohio. It was there I watched election night coverage which left me nothing less than stunned. Oberlin College: a place that served as a way-station along the Underground Railroad helping to move Southern slaves to new lives in Canada. Yes, a… Read More »Reflections on the Election by a Progressive Christian Minister
It was a humid day. A slow, steady rain fell as we stood in the line. Some friends told us that they waited over two hours in this line. I suspected that because of the rain it would be much faster. I was right. Our wait was only 45 minutes.… Read More »Providing Refuge: History Repeats Itself