Just Keep Swimming Fundamentalist Christian Category
Religious Liberty in the U.S. and cat pictures
Posted on November 19, 2020 1 Comment
I ran across this paper I wrote for a Religious Liberty class at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University. I didn’t think it was half bad, so I’m posting it in my blog. It’s a little thick, so I’m adding some cat pictures. Historical Context of the ControversyThe religion clause of the U.S. Constitution states, […]
Race, Religion, and the Lost Cause: Observation from the National ONA Gathering
Posted on June 19, 2019 Leave a Comment
Today is June 19th, Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when news of Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier finally reached enslaved persons in Texas. It coincides with the National Gathering of the UCC Open & Affirming National Gathering and a Race and Religion course assignment on whether the Lost Cause still exists […]
Alabama Gilead: The Beguiling of Conservative Women
Posted on June 3, 2019 1 Comment
for Jenny Nixon Last weekend, I attended the National Gathering of the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ, a denomination with a history of social justice advocacy that dates back to colonial New England. The UCC has always, to my knowledge, ordained women ministers, and it is a space where I feel welcome […]
Inflaming the Christian Right: Franklin Graham, Pete Buttigieg, and Changing Our Mind
Posted on April 29, 2019 2 Comments
It should come as no surprise that they’re coming for Pete Buttigieg. He’s smart, frank, funny, personable, courageous~~everything in a politician that would constitute a threat to the one of the least popular incumbent presidents history. Strategically that’s why he’s already under attack. How he’s under attack represents low hanging fruit politically. Pete Buttigieg is […]
(Un)Holy Saturday: A Community Lament Psalm
Posted on April 20, 2019 1 Comment
It is Holy Saturday, God, the day good Christians celebrate Jesus’s body lying in the tomb while his soul descended into hell, the Harrowing of Hell, they call it. Holy Saturday is coming home from a funeral. Everybody is exhausted, and the loss is starting to get real. You have to eat~~people have brought food~~but […]
Louisiana Black Church Fires: A Psalm of Community Lament
Posted on April 17, 2019 4 Comments
Holy God, we must speak the names. St. Mary Baptist. Greater Union Baptist. Mount Pleasant Baptist. Louisiana smolders. In the names and the smoke our sin is manifest. We do not speak of their pain because the pain is their own—it belongs to their hearts. We do not get to cry those tears. Theirs is […]
The Choice to Live Passionately
Posted on March 30, 2019 Leave a Comment
My Spiritual Formation this week is from What Matters Most: Ten Lessons in Living Passionately from the Song of Solomon by Renita Weems. She takes takes the “ten lessons” from the Shulammite woman’s fearless living and loving in the Song. Interestingly, I’ve heard the Song of Solomon called “The Porn Book of the Bible,” which […]
Thoughts on Prayer Following the Christchurch Massacre
Posted on March 15, 2019 1 Comment
As I write this, another heinous mass shooting has taken place by white supremacists, this time in New Zealand. Almost 50 of our Muslim neighbors were murdered and 20 seriously injured, killed while they were praying. This attack is on my mind and heart as I contemplate this week’s Core Forum on prayer. As one […]
The Curious State of Being “Called”
Posted on December 3, 2018 Leave a Comment
Maybe at some point in your life you have been called by God for some purpose. If you have and you realize it, all I can say is wow. How did you know? Did you hear a voice? Did you have a feeling around your heart or stomach area? Was there only circumstantial evidence? A call is […]
Finding Free: The Atlanta Freedom Bands and Coming Full Circle
Posted on November 3, 2014 Leave a Comment
When I was in fifth grade at Littleville Elementary School, something magical happened. One day, our teacher announced that the band teacher from the nearby high school would be coming to Littleville to talk to kids and their parents about joining the band. It was 1973, and resources for extra-curricular activities–heck, resources for curricular activities–were […]
