[This past Sunday morning we took an unusual break in our service to talk about the recent presidential election.  Here are my notes.] I want to take an unusual pause in our service this morning to have a pastoral chat about politics.  Carrie was kind enough to make room in

The most divisive issue in American today is political affiliation – specifically presidential political affiliation.  It is more divisive than race or economics or any other issue that has been predominant in American public life. Hateful, contemptuous, and dehumanizing, rhetoric and memes can easily be found on both sides of

Pretty much everyone knows who Martin Luther King Jr. is, but John Lewis is a little less familiar. Lewis has been a US Congressmen in my part of Georgia since 1987.  He was also one of the major leaders of the Civil Rights movement – one of the few that

Part 1 – The Problem Do you know those feelings of uncertainty or even guilt when someone asks you for money?  You want to be a good person, a compassionate person, and beyond that if you are a Christian, you want to obey the teachings and commands of Jesus when

I have an incredible mother-in-law.  Despite the jokes and the crazy stories, they do exist, and I happen to be blessed with one of the best ones.  Her husband, my father-in-law, is the extroverted one and we have enjoyed over fifteen years of rich conversation.  Carol Ann is quieter and

[This was written after the July 2016 murder of five Dallas police officers and the racial tensions that led up to it.] Despite all the horror and ugliness from this past week, I have seen so much good and beauty.  I have seen black and white friends calling each other

I believe too many of us in the United States have an inadequate view of slavery – and holding onto this inadequate view comes at a high price for our world and for millions of individuals. Slavery is an abhorrent practice where one human being physically and psychologically subjugates another

Last Sunday a man went into a nightclub in Orlando and shot over one hundred people, murdering 49 and injuring 53. These mass killings that were once almost unheard of seem to have increased to a point of near horrific regularity and everyone responds to these situations in different ways.

One day back in college, one of my favorite business professors was doing a lecture on ethics in business when one of the students (most of us were in our late teens and early twenties – just kids really) raised her hand and said that she would never work for

 – I’m just following orders.  – I’m just doing my job.  – If I don’t do it, they’ll just get someone else to do it.  – It’s okay, they’re rats, leaches, terrorists, scum, etc.*  – It’s for the greater good.^ It is pretty safe to say that more human suffering,