The Gospel of Halloween

All Saint’s Day 2012.  From beginning to end scripture is filled with references to God gathering people from every corner of the globe. That is part of God’s plan. It should be part of ours. I overhead some people talking at a local coffee shop today. They were...

8-tracks and iTunes

These columns were probably not read as much as the others. For two reasons: they are less anecdotal and they challenge life-long assumptions and experiences. My task is to keep talking about where the church needs to be using imagery and imagination that readers will...

Ten Things I Learned on my Sabbatical

There was a point on this trip where I had been gone long enough for the scales to fall off and was still far enough from our return that I could not see the end. That period was like flying and simply thinking about it still refreshes me to this day. After seven...

The Bus Stops Here?

If we aren’t careful, it is too easy to forget that there are people out there who either don’t have cars or can’t afford to use them. Don’t you hate sitting in traffic? Wasting time. Wasting fuel. And what about our roads? Traveling east-and-west in Fayetteville is...

Simplify

Ultimately, this issue found a solution. In the summer of 2012 we embarked on a seven-week sabbatical. It was a divine experience. And I can say that even after spending 8316 miles with my family in the mini-van. I’m in a jungle. It’s nighttime. All around me beady...

The Tiny Bathroom

As a child, if I had to choose, I would have said that I felt safer around Eddie than I did around my own grandfather. And he gave me a golf ball once. We are a family of white people. And we know that. On MLK Day we read stories to our children about civil rights. I...