Sometimes the words of scripture are hard to understand. Do you remember the story of St. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in the Book of Acts? Philip heard the eunuch reading a passage from Isaiah along the road so Philip asked him "Do you understand what you are reading?” But the man replied, “How can…
On August 28, 1963, Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the mall in Washington, D.C. In it he uttered the equally famous line "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we're free at last." These words still stir my heart…
I once took a fishing trip with a group of friends to the Gulf Coast. In a little town south of New Orleans, one of the top fishing guides in Louisiana was set to take our group out for the day. Now, I need to tell you, my younger brother got all the "outdoorsie" genes…
Ah, summertime! The season of vacations, a more relaxed pace of life, adventures, and warm weather. "In the good old summertime...." Summertime is such a wonderful time of year.
But our society is one in which most Americans take little to no vacation time. The drive to produce creates the sense that I always have to…
Have you heard this before? "Well, I don't like going to church because there are so many hypocrites there." I've always found that funny because if you allow hypocrites to keep you from worship, then the hypocrite is closer to God than you are! Kinda defeats the purpose, don't you think?
Words are such powerful icons…
In the culture I was raised, your mother is the most important person in your life. Oh, don't get me wrong, dad was just as important, but he was working, and it was mom that had the after-school snack ready for you when you got off the bus in the afternoon!
Of course that calls to…
"Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.…
There seems to be a cottage industry that has developed in America all surrounding the notion that modern life is lonely. It seems this sense of loneliness flows from the notion that we are to be "self sufficient" and not "need" anybody to help us. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being capable of…
"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?" So asks our Lord in Matthew 5:13.
Jesus has just given us the gift of the Beatitudes. You know, "Blessed are the poor..." This list of those who are blessed give us a look into the…
I'm writing today from the beautiful 200 acres of the Diakonia Retreat Center in Salem, SC, USA. Our Metropolis of Atlanta begins 5 weeks of summer camp ministry to our youth starting today.
As we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, being with these teens makes it all the more clear why this feast is of such…