Spirituality. Politics. Music. Life.
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 […]
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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 […]
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Dear White Friends, Can we talk again?I can’t shake the story of Francisco Erwin Galicia. He’s the 18-year-old American citizen that was detained for almost a month by Border Patrol and ICE. I can’t shake the story, because it play directly into a narrative that I have been preaching about for perhaps a decade now…that […]
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I thought of a scene from “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” as I watched the Trump Political Rally in North Carolina last night. In the film, Senator Padme Amadala and Bail Organa are watching as Emperor Palpatine engineers an effective coup within the Senate. It’s met with cheers. And as she surveys the scene, […]
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Realism, not cold water. That is my message to all my friends in Metho-nerd land today. For the past two weeks, we’ve had the breaking news of General Conference delegate elections from all across the country. It is fair to call it a “wave election,” toward the Moderate-Progressive side. It’s STUNNING in some places. My […]
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Let me provide a bit of context for the past few days in the North Texas Conference. It’s just my one perspective on what felt like an extraordinary few days. (So, take it or leave it…) First, the NTC ordained the first openly lesbian woman in the South. (Meaning: In any conference in the Southeastern […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Before we roast these college cheating scandal parents on the scapegoat-altar of our media culture… Before we throw too many self-righteous stones… And even before we get too high and mighty about the privileged and the wealthy and how they get special treatment (which is all true, of course)… We must turn a harsh light […]
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