Category: Uncategorized

   Where do I stand?   I don’t think the middle is a proper understanding of my position.  I am trying to stand on the Rock, on the Word of God, from his “fixed” position.  This is opposed to partisans in America, whose positions shift, though they are often referred to as “being on the right,”…

   Do you ever get bothered by pictures of young white people surrounded by little black children, whether American or African, as they send out stories and messages of their latest mission trip or urban experience? I’m all in favor of “best practices” when it comes to community development and ministry.  I am in favor of…

    There are many folks writing and speaking out against the Trump Administration policy of separating children from their parents, those who have sought to enter the U.S. without permission, or illegally.  I am sure my voice will not add much to what is being said, but I do feel it right to say something…

   One of the struggles I experience in the world of racial reconciliation and peacemaking is to hear people say pretty stupid things.  Sometimes I get to hear people express their fears, and sometimes their anger, and sometimes just their ignorance.  In all of these expressions I am still called on by God to love…

The Anomaly of Social Justice without faith and of Christianity without Social Justice.     Recently I have been listening to one of the “great courses” from the Teaching Company on “Transcendentalism.”   Listening to the history of this movement one realizes how profoundly American culture and philosophy has been impacted by unbelief.  America is not immune…

Some comments about… Ideology as ethics and mantras posing as reasoned argument; the sad state of American politics and the zombie zeal of political followers, with the contingent dismissal of biblical Truth while adhering to Evangelical rhetoric. Some observations: ·       To criticize Trump is not the same as endorsing Hillary. ·       Even a bad man…

I want to share some thoughts on the importance of the public reading of Scripture.  Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”     Evidently Paul thought this to be an important task for Pastors, as it is something to…

     I was speaking with someone recently about “being woke,” and about trying to deal with folks who ain’t woke yet, and trying to love on them, and how some folks talk about “being tired” and feeling bitter about the frustration of not seeing people, or things, change.    My friend quoted me back to…

   As I listen or read about the “white” Evangelical Church and its relationship to and with African Americans, or about how African Americans feel about the white Evangelical Church I am concerned, comforted, and confronted about truly cross-cultural churches and their place in this discussion. CONCERNED    I am concerned because I think the…

  Just suppose you wanted to make something of your life… Suppose you wanted to make a significant difference in the lives of other people…  Suppose you wanted to impact at least one specific community, one neighborhood…  Suppose you had the belief that people coming to faith in Jesus Christ would actually affect their eternal…

  I have been thinking some about the role of Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Post Modern ideology concerning prevalent ethnic and racial justice and injustice issues.  I have been thinking of the rhetoric of cultural and social critics, the presumptive attempt to be “prophetic” in speaking to social problems, and the difficulty of…

I’ve recently had some opportunities to speak about money, sacrifice, and the poor.  I often speak on poverty but it gets a bit more personal when I speak to “the poor” and to “the rich.”     Over the last decade or so I have heard preachers and speakers on the radio and other places mention…

Every once in a while someone decides to smear those who advocate social righteousness in the practice of both the church as congregation, and the church as members, as the “Social Gospel.”    It is perfectly fine with me to have brothers and sisters debate the extent or parameters of local churches, or the denomination,…

THIS TOWER HAS MY NAME ON IT “All who walk in pride He is able to humble,” Says Nebuchadnezzar. A proud king, if there was ever And ever was there a tree Quite as tall as me? As large, as strong So high Whose top can touch the sky? Where beasts find a bed And…

   I have been watching the unfolding Evangelical internecine squabble, the civil war of social/theological embarrassment.  I have been listening to the racial/cultural commentary of the “woke,’ the sometimes arrogant, condescending, and despising rhetoric from those seeking distance from the uncool part of Jesus followers.  I too have been embarrassed by my so-called brethren excusing…

Is justice inevitable?  Is it true, as Theodore Parker (a Unitarian minister) first said, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice!”  One sees a touch of realism in that statement, that to get to justice we will have to wait quite a while.  There is also a touch of…

   So what does the average seminarian actually know how to do when he enters the ministry?  Notice, I didn’t ask how much he knows.  He probably knows more than he will ever actually make use of in ministry to real people, or even in ministry to himself.  Depending on the Presbytery that examines him…

  Let’s talk about sex baby!  It kind of seems that is all anyone is talking about these days, and maybe that is really good.  It is also sad.  It is certainly needed but at the same time it is a bit disturbing.  Surely no one of any mature years can be shocked that sex…

    Every time African Americans seem to ask for their rights, or protest against injustice, or gain some political, educational, or economic footing there are those who see their gain as a loss for white people.  There is such a hysterical fear among some whites that any gain for African Americans is seen not simply…

This is an attempt to highlight, and maybe analyze, some of the trends I see in that part of the Christian community that is focused on urban, poverty, cross-cultural (ethnic and racial), justice, and community development issues.    By way of full disclosure I am a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) minister, which means I…