What are you up to this election season? Are you paying any attention? Are you working for your favorite candidates? Are you planning to vote and maybe even bring someone with you to the polls? Or have you given up on politics? Have you fallen
Even my minister dad could change Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1 NIV) Recently I responded to a post about the Black Church experience with LGBTQ+ condemnation and the use of the Bible as a weapon
Preached at Gentle Spirit Christian Church, Atlanta, Ga. Reading: John 6:35, 41-51 As usual, Jesus is doing a lot here. He’s talking about bread, a powerful symbol of sustenance – but one that could also accidentally kill – and also one that’s incredibly democratic. Everyone
How to stop indulging the bigots in our midst If there’s anything that’s traditional, even a part of many historically “traditional family values,” it’s prejudices and the accompanying bigotry. Of course, bigots are really, really offended when someone points out their bigotry. And their hope
Dear Bro, Have you ever thought about the things we know now only by our efforts to understand ourselves and our environment? For instance, when I think about what our mother could have shared with me about the process of becoming a young woman (and
Preached at Gentle Spirit Christian Church, Atlanta, Ga. Reading: Mark 6:14-29 Today’s Gospel reading takes us to one of those biblical scenes that has become such the stuff of legend that most people are able to recite, or at least reference, parts of it whether
Why the proximity of the two holidays should provoke reflection This July 4th, America for the 248th time celebrates its independence from British rule. But the proximity of Juneteenth, now a federal holiday since President Biden designated it as such in 2023, should force Americans
Since abolition, women have led the fight for rights we now take for granted When those rich white males turned the Declaration of Independence’s “All men are created equal” into the original U.S. Constitution, they took “men” quite literally. Their constitution made landed white men
As I watched the Atlanta Pride parade broadcast on TV last fall (we march in October thanks to a summer drought in 2007 that rendered the parade’s endpoint, Piedmont Park, a scorched wasteland), I was struck by a couple of things at once. For starters,
A conservative backlash against bisexual, transgender, and gay people is growing so strong that random street violence is surging in the U.S., the U.K., and elsewhere. Kids are learning hatred from parents and churches and then bullying and beating up LGBTQ+ classmates. Queer adults are