by Jim Kelsey | Sep 9, 2019 | Opinion
I am afraid for my family. I am afraid for my community. I am afraid for my country. Several weeks ago, on a Sunday night, my wife and I were eating our dinner at the Chinese buffet in our community. I heard a commotion over by the cash register. At first, I thought...
by Jim Kelsey | May 13, 2019 | Opinion
I have worshipped the last several Sundays with the shadow of the attack on the synagogue in Poway, California, on my heart. When one adds up the cumulative carnage of this attack, the attack on the synagogue in Pittsburg, the attack on the mosque in New Zealand, the...
by Jim Kelsey | Apr 12, 2019 | Opinion
The hope of Lent is that we will come out of it a bit different than when we entered, having changed in some way for the better. When I think of people changing, I think of the pastor of a church I once attended. First Baptist Church, with its tall white columns and...
by Jim Kelsey | Feb 18, 2019 | Opinion
Our neurology predisposes us to love our neighbor. When Jesus commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:39), he is challenging us to nurture our innate, neurological capacity for empathy. Our brains are wired for empathy, argues...
by Jim Kelsey | Jan 24, 2019 | Opinion
We were naming a room in our church building. We already had a room named after the long-term pastor of the church, who led the congregation during what was seen by the long-tenured members as the heyday of the church. Our choosing of a name had come to the point...
