What Sufferings Are Not Gifts?

August 20, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Watching this interview between Colbert and Anderson Cooper, I am reminded of the great quote attributed to Charlie Chaplin: “To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.” Colbert is one of the masters of this, and always has been. And it was years ago now that I first […]

Jesse Jackson Had It Right

August 7, 2019.Reading time 57 minutes.

I voted for Ronald Reagan twice to be president.The next time I could vote, I voted for Jesse Jackson. If I was to write the story of my spiritual, social, and political transformation in two short sentences, those two would be it. Those two sentences are the metaphor for a social transformation that continues inside […]

Kessler Park Welcome Video

July 30, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

An Open Letter to Reverend Robert Jeffress:

May 13, 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

An Open Letter to Reverend Robert Jeffress: This morning, again I preached from one of the many passages where religious leaders try to trick Jesus with his words. (John 10: 22-30…It was the suggested “Lectionary” text for this Sunday, in my Methodist tradition…) Time and time again, as you are undoubtedly aware, this theme recurs […]

Our Open Letter to the LGBTQ+ Community

March 17, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Let me pause for a brief moment and reflect on this day when 177 of my clergy siblings here in North Texas have signed on to an open letter addressed to the LGBTQ community that appears in today’s Dallas Morning News. Let me tell you what I remember… I remember a “Day of Listening” in […]

The Height of Hypocrisy

March 16, 2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

This week, the New York Times ran a story that proves corruption and cheating among African delegates to the recent General Conference of the United Methodist Church. The story promised follow-up stories to come. I hope they do follow up. Because there are a host of issues that have needed to be addressed for at […]

“We Know What We Know” About Methodism

March 2, 2019.Reading time 20 minutes.

“Demography is Destiny” — Auguste Comte Thursday afternoon a United Methodist clergy colleague called me while I was driving to church. I spend a lot of time in the car these days. We talked for about 25 minutes. He was pretty amped up. He told me he’d stayed up until 3 am the night before, […]

Methodism: Post-Mortem and Pre-Vitae

February 26, 2019.Reading time 16 minutes.

This week’s General Conference #gc2019 is the result of a slow-moving train wreck that’s been happening in the United Methodist Church for some thirty years. Most centered in my mind today are all those who are experiencing pain, most especially of all, my dear Methodist LGBTQ friends across the denomination, and all of those who […]

Straightsplaining in the UMC

February 21, 2019.Reading time 14 minutes.

For three years, the United Methodist Church has been engaged in a denomination-wide process of “straightsplaining” to the LGBTQ community. Actually, you could make a strong case that we’ve been straightsplaining since 1972. What is “straightsplaining?” Go ahead, Google it. It’s exactly what you think it is. It’s the rainbow flag community’s version of “Mansplaining.” […]

White Men and Yearbooks

February 11, 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

The following is a list of pictures of me in my High School and College yearbooks from the 1980s, excluding the standard yearly posed picture… — Picture of me at a Young Life meeting… — Picture of me at Key Club formal, with the other officers, in a dapper all-white tux… — Picture of me […]