I have preached in challenging, supercharged moments but none can compare with the moment Samson Occom (1723-1792) took the pulpit at Moses Paul's execution. A heated argument after drinking broke out at David Clark's Tavern in Bethany,...
Tom Fettke (1941-) spent a lifetime in choral music as a music instructor and church choir director. As former director of a church choir in California, Tom asked choir member Linda Johnson if she would be willing to transpose Psalm 8 into lyrical...
She was the first woman to speak to a mixed audience of men and women in America. She was born to free slaves, orphaned at five, and taken in as an indentured servant. She had no formal education but became a voracious reader. In her words, "I was...
The date of September 11, 2001, is forever etched in my memory. Most of us can remember where we were and what we were doing when we learned the horrific news of planes slamming into the Pentagon and incinerating the World Trade Center Towers. Our...
Heresy was considered a capital offense in the Middle Ages. Try as I might, I still can't wrap my head around such drastic censure. Granted, the rise of popular heretical movements had something to do with it, but it still doesn't explain why the...
When Alexander Crummell (1819-1898) was young, he was sent on an errand by an anti-slavery office in New York City. He overheard two prominent lawyers talking about a recent conversation with John Calhoun, a senator from South Carolina. In the...
Shia LaBeouf (age 38) is an American actor and filmmaker. He was raised with Jewish as well as Christian influences but acknowledged in 2007 that "religion never made any sense to me." His struggle with alcohol addiction and a series of public...
C.S. Lewis married for the first time in his late fifties to a fellow writer, Joy Davidman. She contracted cancer shortly after they married and died three years later. C.S. kept a diary to chronicle his grief after her death, which he never...
People in the church often tell me they prefer the New Testament to the Old Testament. They find themselves more in sync with the New Testament God of love than the Old Testament God of wrath. Did God have a change of heart over time, or are we...
I had never heard of the African Colonization Society (ACS) before researching the originator of today's prayer. The ACS came into existence in America in 1816 to promote the manumission of enslaved and free blacks to West Africa. Not surprisingly,...
In the latter years of officiating at weddings in my former church, couples often asked if they could write their own vows. "Go ahead," I told them, "Have at it, but keep in mind it's harder than you think." Most couples attempted to write...
Racial segregation was the law of our land in the early 1900s. Churches followed suit, dividing along color lines. The Azusa Street Revival offered a marked contrast to this racial divide, a little glimpse into heaven. One eyewitness was so...
Labor Day began as a parade in New York City to honor working people in 1882. The idea took hold, and Congress passed a law in 1894 designating the first Monday in September as a national holiday. The reformer Martin Luther is credited with...
Some of you may be living in a storm. You may be dealing with a health crisis, a season of grief, or a family emergency. If you are not in a crisis right now, enjoy the reprieve. ...
It’s not surprising that pride, greed, anger, lust, envy, and gluttony make the sixth century Seven Deadly Sins list. But sloth? We commonly associate sloth with laziness but when Gregory the Great included sloth in his deadly sin list, he had...
In a remote area of England is a tiny town called Rievaulx (pronounced Ree-voh), with a population of fifty people. It's a popular tourist attraction as visitors walk among the impressive ruins of a famous twelfth century monastery. The monastery...
You’ve likely heard of George Frederic Handel, composer of the famous oratorio Messiah, but you may not know the name Charles Jennens (1700-1773). Without Charles Jennens, there would be no Messiah. His contributions were so considerable that...
Louise Degrafinried (1911-1998) and her husband Nathan lived in a small town outside Nashville. Nathan awoke one night to let the cat out, but the cat refused to leave the porch. Instead, he arched his back and hissed. "What do you see out there,...