Signs That Are More Than Ink On Paper

June 16, 2016.Reading time 25 minutes.

When I was a kid, there was a program called “Helping Hands” that was supposed to help kids feel safe. The idea was that families would put a paper sign inside the front windows of their house. The sign was a very simple hand print. The theory was that if a kid was ever walking […]

The Greater Tragedy

June 14, 2016.Reading time 6 minutes.

“The greater tragedy is that these deaths are being politicized by those who have an agenda…” During the past two days, I’ve heard this statement on social media, from writers right, left, and center. This kind of empty rhetoric gets tossed out at a time like this. And sometimes it gets embraced as a moderate, […]

Written Down in Blood and Ink

May 23, 2016.Reading time 12 minutes.

“Place these words I’m speaking on your heart and in your very being. Tie them on your hand as a sign.” Deuteronomy 11:16 I pulled the trigger. I got my tattoo. As I’ve been threatening to do for months now, I got the words “Fear Not” in Biblical Greek inked on my left inside forearm. […]

Of Bathrooms and Johnny Manziel

May 13, 2016.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Eric’s video message for this week, talking about the fake danger of Trans people and bathrooms, verses the very real dangers of domestic violence.

Conversation with Morgan Guyton

May 4, 2016.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Morgan Guyton is on a book tour for his great new book, “How Jesus Saves The World from Us: 12 Antidotes to Toxic Christianity.” We did a short interview about the book, focusing on the chapter, “Outsiders, Not Insiders,” talking about a bit about General Conference, and what it’s like to be straight allies of […]

Message To General Conference Delegates

May 2, 2016.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Friends, This blog is a message to delegates to the upcoming United Methodist General Conference. If you are a delegate, I hope you’ll watch it. If you know a delegate, I hope you’ll forward it to them. The primary message is this: “Restructuring” or “Reframing” will not help solve the intractable conflict over LGBT issues […]

Let It Be

April 14, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

I believe sometimes our loved ones visit us in dreams, after they are gone. This happened to me when I was about ten. Just after my grandfather Frankie died, I dreamed he drove down to Dallas in the 1965 Mustang that, in the waking world, would eventually become mine. He woke us up and gathered […]

It’s Time. (Past Time, Really)

April 13, 2016.Reading time 13 minutes.

Dear General Conference Delegates From Around the World, I’m writing you today about issues of LGBTQ inclusion, which will be before you at General Conference in Portland. My message to you is not just that “It’s Time,” but that “It’s Past Time.” The Clock Has Stopped. You Can Restart It. My first message is that […]

What Finally Becomes Of Our Fears

March 22, 2016.Reading time 11 minutes.

Two images are seared into my brain from a long and newsy day. The first are images of bloody and fearful Belgians, fleeing violent bombings. I saw these wordless images this morning, on the 24-hour news channel in a hospital waiting room, as I sat with a church member while his wife had surgery. It […]

Our Inner Collaborators

March 21, 2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

“Most of us can make a long list of the external enemies of the soul, in the absence of which we are sure we would be better people! Because we so quickly blame our problems on forces “out there,” we need to see how often we conspire in our own deformation: for every external power […]