Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Unleash your inner priest
Yes, friends, just in time to train up your children for Passover and other priestly days, it's "Leviticus! The Game." Available as a free iPhone app from the Apple store, "Leviticus! The Game" teaches rules about...
How Mary’s One-Time Extravagance Benefitted You
Was it a spur-of-the-moment thing? Or something Mary had in mind for a long time? If it was impulsive, why did she have so much expensive nard-based perfume on hand? Was Mary collecting this perfume because she loved...
What Do We Know About the New Pope?
I am neither a journalist, nor a prophet. But since Pope Francis comes from Argentina and I'm an Argentinean, it seems that I should have something to say. Jason Horowitz wrote in The Washington Post: "The cardinals of...
Moral Opposition to Indiscriminate Drone Kills Will Increase
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) shared a national security secret at a Rotary Club meeting in his home state. He gave the number of people killed by drones. "We've killed 4,700," said Graham, who is a Southern...
Confessions
A se rmon by David Hughes, First Baptist Church, Winston Salem, N.C. Psalm 32:1-7; 1 John 1:5-9Imagine that you keep a personal journal in which you write with absolute honesty about your life. You assume no one else...
Do You Have a Green Thumb?
Luke 13:1-9 A sermon by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky. Do you have a green thumb? I’m sure many of you do. I have heard you talk about working in your flower beds or gardens. I haven’t...
The Disgrace of Egypt
A sermon by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ar. Fourth Sunday in Lent Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 When our children were about to begin college, I gave them both what I...
Teach Us to Number Our Days: One More Year
A sermon by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. The Third Sunday in Lent Luke 13:1-9 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled...
Teach Us to Number Our Days: The Third Day
A sermon by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. The Second Sunday in Lent Luke 13:31-35 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”...
The Prodigal Father
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va. Luke 15:1-3, 11b-31 Some of what I’m about to say is taken from a sermon by the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book The Preaching...
Stewards of the Story
A sermon by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. The Fourth Sunday of Lent Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 In John Steinbeck’s wonderful book, Travels...
Money Always Promises More Than It Delivers
What does money mean to you? For many of us, I think, money means safety and security. We depend on money to feed us, clothe us, house us, provide medical care for us, transport us and educate us. Money puts gates...
“Oz the Great and Powerful”
If you grew up in the '60s and '70s, you watched the yearly airing of "The Wizard of Oz." You knew all the words to the songs and you had a favorite character. Mine was the Cowardly Lion. I never heard anyone say they...
Helping Children Stand in Each Other’s Shoes
The announcement was broadcast at the end of the day over the school's public address system. "Our Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014 is ... Mr. Barton. Congratulations!" I walked out into the third-grade hallway where...
Trust me. Or not …
Flipping through the March 2013 AARP Bulletin, I was struck by a sidebar entitled "Whom Do You Trust?" That led me to the check out a more detailed survey on the group's website. From AARP.org. Click to enlargeThe...
Cruise Ship’s Misery Mirrors Earth’s Plight
The Carnival cruise ship Triumph made headlines in February when it lost power. After four days of misery, it was towed into Mobile, Ala. There were more than 4,000 people on board who had no showers, no modern...
Skype Interview: Tyler Wigg-Stevenson on Saving the World
"I was in the middle of this burgeoning activist career – anti-nuclear cause – and I was really fretful and anxious about my capacity to save the world from itself." What followed the Baptist minister's anxiousness was...
How Can Mourning Lead to Comfort?
"Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." -- Matthew 5:4 Lately, this verse has taken hold of me for reasons I don't fully understand. Maybe it's because I've participated in two funerals recently, and...
Resistant or Resilient: Which Describes Your Church?
Two of the more important words for a congregation to ponder in the 21st century are "resistant" and "resilient." Which of those two words better describe your congregation – and you – may well determine whether your...
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance to Beat Poverty
"The poor will always be with you." This somewhat dismal proclamation first appears in Deuteronomy 15 and is repeated in Matthew 26. These are weighty sources, so is it true that poverty must always exist? Muhammad...
UK Report Busts Comfortable Myths about Poverty
Evidence and statistics have been misused, misrepresented and manipulated by politicians and the media to create myths that blame and stigmatize the most vulnerable in society, according to a new, hard-hitting church...