William Flippin Jr.: Numbers 11:24-30: Prophecy On the Margins
Through the beginning of time in society, workplace and what we know as the institutional church, there are those who are on the 'inside' and those who are on the outside. Prophecy on the Margins informs us that prophetic revelation, a spiritual harvest can occur in the most unlikely place and person.
Macky Alston: For Journalists Who Get it and Us, We Give Thanks
There are three guides – journalists with a love for prophetic witness – who I want to praise today and encourage you to check out on a regular basis. I have relied on these three souls weekly to tell me where to look, who to listen to, and how to think about how faith informs public life and vice versa.
Anthony Robinson: Christian Creativity
Paul has a great 'word to the wise' for us here. Go easy on others, but be tough on yourself. Often it seems that we do pretty much the opposite. At least if talk radio and similar forums are any indication, we can be pretty tough on others while not going in for much for self-examination.
Talitha Arnold: Hard-Headed Hope
Hope is often under siege, whether in Paul's time or ours. One glance at the daily news makes hope seem naive and those who hold hope appear foolish. We often need the protection a helmet affords to keep hope alive.
Weekly Sermon Illustration: The Two Battles
In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. On August 23, 2015 we will celebrate The Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
ON Scripture: Immigration: Love Without Borders (1 Kings 8) By Roger S. Nam
The 2016 presidential election season has brought increased attention to the topic of immigration in recent weeks. In the coming sixteen months(!), the American public can expect the different presidential candidates to navigate through immigration issues in order to win voters, whether through shocking opening salvos designed for media attention, or strategically guarded statements intended to repel as few voters as possible.
Macky Alston: You Have Something to Say That We Need to Know
You have something to say that we need to know. You were not born for nothing. In you, in the terrific, singular way life has shaped you, there is a truth that is yours to tell.
Ron Buford: From Blindfolds To 20/20 Vision
A dear pastor friend asked me for a children's sermon idea on Saul becoming blinded while on his way to persecute Christians, regaining his vision, and then becoming the great apostle Paul.
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Prayers for President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter is no stranger to cancer. In his remarkable book A Full Life: Reflections at 90 he writes of how he lost his father and two siblings to pancreatic cancer, all before they reached 60.
In Honor of Maya Angelou
From an appearance on the Chicago Sunday Evening Club in 1992.
Martin Copenhaver: God's Holy Fools
Jesus had given his disciples a stunning glimpse of God's power and all they could see or remember was a picnic in the sun.
Talitha Arnold: The Bread of Angels
The Psalmist remembers the wilderness years of his people, when they wandered in the desert of Sinai. Hunger and the threat of starvation were their constant companions in that harsh and barren land.
Brett Younger: The Bible in Just Six Words
What if we tried to tell the stories in the Bible with only six words?
Carol Howard Merritt: Missteps in church planting
I spoke with ten church development pastors, including people I have written about before and a couple who closed their community as a consequence of what they did wrong.
Weekly Sermon Illustration: Bread
In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. On August 16, 2015 we will celebrate The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost.
ON Scripture: Ferguson 1 Year Later: Give Us Wisdom (1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14) By Lisa Sharon Harper
Solomon is essentially asking God, 'Give your servant and understanding mind to govern your people able to discern that which protects, serves, and cultivates the relationships of your people to you, to themselves, to each other, to the earth, to the systems of governance, and to our surrounding nations! And show me what is evil””what destroys, threatens, corrupts any of these relationships.' This is wisdom.
Bishop Ken Carter: Generative Christians, Generative Congregations
Well, we have a story about a sower and seeds and soil. I feel inadequate to bring any practical expertise to you. But I do love this parable of Jesus, in what it says to us and I am grateful to be able to reflect on it.
Anthony Robinson: The Dump and The Church
Oddly, the one thing God really welcomes is something broken””the broken heart, a fractured spirit.
Why Preach?
An excerpt from a lecture on preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary’s Henderson Conference in 1986.
Ron Buford: I've Got Your Back
Among close African-American colleagues who know the risks of racism and cultural misunderstanding that can so easily and unconsciously emerge, one might say to another, 'I've got your back.'