Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Will We Offer Healing to Society’s Disenfranchised?
A marred Christmas and a marred New Year. Merry has been stolen from Christmas, Happy from New Year's. As much as we might desire or long to celebrate the birth of God among us, the violence in Newtown, Conn., does not...
Are we all nuts?
Have you noticed the frequent news reports on how sales of automatic weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips went straight through the roof in the aftermath of the massacre at Sandy Hook? Afraid that the murder of...
Graduation at Starbucks
By John Pierce Jennifer Harris Dault received her Master of Divinity degree from Central Baptist Theological Seminary a week and a half after her graduating class — in a bit more casual setting. Car trouble...
This Advent, Are You Repenting Toward God?
Editor's note: This column is the third part of a four-part Advent series from the Gospel of Mark on waiting, hearing, repenting and believing. Read part one here and part two here. In following the Gospel of Mark's...
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Director Peter Jackson returns moviegoers to the land of Middle Earth as he presents the first installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit." We are welcomed into the story by Bilbo Baggins, uncle of Frodo (the main...
6 Suggestions to Enact Serious Gun Control
Across the United States, people are shaking their heads and searching for answers after what happened in Newtown, Conn. But let no one be mistaken or deceived. The Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre on Dec. 14 was...
Letters of Hope
A sermon delivered by Kathy Pickett, Pastor of Congregational Life, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on December 2, 2012. 1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13 My good friend Jennifer Harris Dault says, “I love, Love,...
A Word for the Gloom
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on December 16, 2012. Jeremiah 31:15 15 Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel...
What If this Is It?
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on December 16, 2012. The Third Sunday of Advent Luke 3:7-18 On a day like this one, it’s not so hard to believe the world is coming to...
Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer on the Sunday after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut A prayer delivered by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va., during the Sanctuary Choir Christmas Program on...
God with Us: Blessing
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on December 16, 2012. Third Sunday in Advent Note: At the beginning of worship, following the greeting, I made some personal...
A New World Coming “ A Real World
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on December 16, 2012. John 3:1-8 Meditation Text: Electricity or steam, dynamite or big masses—by these things we are impressed. We believe...
Fear and Exclusion: Difficult Roadblocks to Peace
"By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:78-79). Years ago, a...
God and Guns Invoked Often After Newtown Tragedy
Four daily newspapers greet the Martys at breakfast. The morning after the school killings at Newtown, Conn., 24 pages of these informed us, while zillions of twitters and tweets and TV and radio programs also...
What Linus Missed When Telling Luke’s Christmas Story
The year is 1965. The television station CBS. Linus walks onto the stage, blanket in tow, for the very first time. The lights dim and a spotlight illumines this solitary child who is going to tell Charlie Brown "what...
Newtown Reminds Us Christmas Always Includes Tears
Editor's note: Below is Guy Sayles' sermon from Sunday, Dec. 16. A young family was decorating their home for Christmas. As they were unpacking their tabletop manger scene, Scott, a 5-year-old, went to his bedroom and...
When Seminary Students Don’t Have a Faith Tradition
As I read through a list of seminary students involved in a preaching event, I noted that where their faith traditions were listed that a number indicated that they were "non-denominational" or "interdenominational." ...
Is Christmas About What God Did or Who God Is?
Christmas is about a lot of things. For children, it's about the magic and excitement of anticipated gifts. For many, it's about family time and the joy of celebrating a shared history. For some, it's about memories of...
When words run dry
I had already posted my Friday blog and was on the road when a news alert on my cell phone said that a murderer had gunned down 20 little children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,...
The gift of discernment should be on every list
By John Pierce At age 5, our daughter Abigail noticed the varied personifications of Santa spread among the malls and other venues of metro Atlanta. She was unconvinced of his omnipresence — and was suspicous...
Today’s Actions Can Create Tomorrow’s Dictators
After the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it is worth reflecting again on the question: whose history do we read? Toward the end of the First World War, President Woodrow Wilson presented to the Congress an...