My parents took me to church every Sunday for the first eighteen years of my life. It wasn’t an option in our family. My parents gave me a lot of things (more than I could ever repay), but as I approach my twilight years, I have come to the realization that the discipline of going […]
According to the best research, it takes 60-70 days to form a new habit. In 2020, most churches in America discontinued live attendance worship services for three to nine months. That’s plenty of time to form a new habit. The Slow, Reluctant Return to Church Sociologists and historians will be unraveling the ramifications of […]
Words are important. It should be no surprise that when God created the universe, he used words. Nor should it be a surprise that when Jesus came to earth, he was labled, “The Word.” The entire Gospel message breathes through fragile human words. The greatest theological debates often hang on simple words — words like […]
What came first? The Chicken or the egg? Most scientists will answer that at some point in evolutionary history when there were no chickens, two birds that were almost-but-not-quite chickens mated and laid an egg that hatched into the first chicken. If you are prepared to call that egg a chicken’s egg, then the egg […]
I remember quite vividly my Mom giving her testimony on a Sunday morning. It was a moving narration of her journey to Christ with a spattering of Scripture references. My church would never have allowed a woman to preach. However, everyone supported my Mom in “sharing” that morning. My father was in attendance, sitting in […]
In Seminary, my Ministry 101 professor had the class debate several relevant issues over the course of the semester. One day he announced that the next debate would be on “Women as Pastors.” He asked who would like to be on the “against” side. Twenty hands shot up and he chose four. When he asked […]
My formative experiences in the church (both as a child and minister) were in small Spanish-speaking congregations. The worship began whenever enough family members arrived. Sometimes we had to wait because it was so-and-so’s birthday and we were going to sing happy birthday to them at the “welcome time,” and they were running late. It […]
Simone Biles, the most lauded U.S. gymnast in history, unexpectedly pulled out of the women’s team competition at the Tokyo Olympics, citing concerns about her mental health. Good for her. It has been encouraging to watch the Olympic community of athletes rally to support her decision. Good for them. It has been refreshing to read […]
Under an arch in a Roman Basilica is a mosaic portraying four female characters: two female saints, Mary (the mother of Jesus), and a fourth woman. An inscription identifies the fourth woman as Theodora Episcopa. The masculine form for Bishop in Latin is episcopus; the feminine form is episcopa. Both the mosaic’s visual and grammatical […]
Words change meaning over time. In Old English, “pretty” meant “crafty and cunning.” A century ago, “nice,” meant “naive or ignorant.” And as recent as when I was a kid “gay,” meant “happy and carefree.” So, two thousand years ago, when Paul used the word “head,” what did it mean? It’s quite possible that it […]
