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Dear Friends, In Luke chapter 9, Luke records this: “An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him.  Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.” Having children, I…

Greetings in Christ’s name! One thing that has helped me grow in faith is to explore the traditions and interpretations of Black Christians throughout American church history.  As I’ve read and learned from authors like James Cone, Austin Channing Brown and Lisa Sharon Harper, my faith has been enriched and I’ve learned new and expansive ways of obedience to Jesus.  As you know, yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  It’s a national holiday for a good reason.  The changes…

Greetings in Christ’s name! Western Christian traditions celebrate Epiphany on January 6th this year (most Orthodox traditions celebrate on January 19th).  The word Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means “revealing.” So the “Epiphany” has been used to speak about a revealing or manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.  In Western Christian traditions, Epiphany remembers the Magi’s visit to Jesus—which signals Christ had come for Gentiles as well as for his own people.  In the Eastern Christian traditions Epiphany…

1st John offers us words about love and God that are both comforting and challenging.  In chapter 4 John says, “let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God.  The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love.” Perhaps you can see why I say these are both comforting and challenging words.  When we love others, we “know” God, John says-that’s comforting. But the opposite…

Dear Friends, In Christmas, we celebrate something truly unique and special. When people contemplate the miracles of Christmas, often the focus is on the virgin birth or the star that guided the magi to Jesus. Often, we celebrate the angels that appeared to Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, and the shepherds.  To me, the biggest miracle of Christmas is what we call the “incarnation.” It’s a concept that is unique to Christianity: if you’re looking for one of the major things that…

Greetings in Christ’s name! From time-to-time people remind me that Jesus was probably born in the spring time, rather than in December.  But I really like the story of how the celebration of Jesus’s birth came to happen on December 25th.  In a world which has so often co-opted Christian holidays and made them into secular celebrations, celebrating Christmas on December 25th is the story of Christians co-opting a secular celebration and turning it into a religious one.  From what…