“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is one of those hymns I regularly have a hard time getting through without choking up. Once referred to as the “Negro National Anthen,” it became, along with “We Shall Overcome,” a signature song of protest and hope during the Civil Rights Movement. And while the challenges faced by African-Americans are not my direct experience as a white male who has enjoyed significant privilege, I find the mixture of pain and hope, adversity and courage described so incredibly moving and always feel drawn closer to the causes of justice and civil rights when I sing it. It was written originally as a poem by...

Do you feel called? Two things prompt this question: 1) As I’ve talked with both clergy and everyday Christians (my preferred term to lay people), I’ve been struck by a deep divide over the issue of vocation. Not about whether vocation is a great idea – who could argue that all Christians are called by God in Baptism to participate with God in caring for the world. Rather, the divide is two-fold. First, most pastors feel called by God to what they do, while most everyday Christians do not. Second, most pastors assume their people feel called, in part because they preach and teach about vocation, while most everyday Christians...

Just five and a half minutes. That’s all you’ll need to take a brief mental health break from wherever you are or whatever you’re doing to be astonished by the treasures of the ocean that David Gallo shows us in this remarkable TED Talk. Gallo, who has led expeditions exploring the remains of the RMS Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck, lends animated narration to riveting footage. Go ahead, you can afford it, take the 5:20 this Talk requires. You won’t regret it. Notes: 1) If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click the title at the top of the post in order to watch the video. 2) The...

Church camps are, in my opinion, one of the treasures of the church, a treasure that is simultaneously highly valued and grossly undervalued. It’s valued by those thousands of persons who had their faith nurtured at camp, had their leadership skills strengthened at camp, and had their identity stretched and enriched at camp. At the same time, I don’t think outdoor ministries receive nearly the support they deserve from congregations or adjudicatories (synods, presbyteries, conferences, etc.) that they deserve. I understand, of course, that there are numerous demands on the dwindling resources of church bodies, but I’d argue that we...

Text: Matthew 15:21-28 Dear Partner in Preaching, I’ve got two questions for you arising from the Gospel reading this week. And I’ll warn you ahead of time that each question which might rock a few boats in your community. First question: can Jesus learn? I know that may sound odd. On the one hand, we may quickly answer, “Sure, why not?” Until we worry about the theological implications of that answer. If Jesus learns, a voice inside us may ask, does that means he’s not perfect, or complete, or sinless, or…. And suddenly a cadre of theological police seem to be patrolling the long corridors of our imagination. I ask this first...