Eric Folkerth

Two thousand Federal troops.
I keep coming back to that number.

That’s the number of Union soldiers that accompanied General Gordon Granger into Galveston on the day Juneteenth was proclaimed in 1865.

We White people barely understand Juneteenth to begin…

I’ve been meaning to post this pic since two things happened in the very same week.

First, this pic.

This is a screenshot of a video of my old friend, Rev. Daniel Kanter. He’s the lead pastor at First…

The last thing women clergy need right now is a colleague mansplaining why they are important. They can speak for themselves and often do more eloquently than I can.

I am in debt to them.
I am learning from them,…

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Today was our first time back in a month!
So…lot’s to catch up on…

I…

A short snippet from last week’s sermon for our beautiful queer siblings, during Pride Month.
Bless you all…EF

As a preacher and songwriter, I’m always trying to see patterns. I’ve said for years that I’m very good as seeing the forest, not as much with the trees.

Forest-seeing is little understood in our culture today, it seems to…

This week our Horizon Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church met for our yearly gathering in Witchita Falls. But all the while there, my heart was here, in this sober picture from our church’s neighborhood.

This is the site…

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Today’s humbling garden lesson...wildflowers that grow where you don’t plant them.

Last week, I noted the patience that gardening actually takes...and how three Asparagus ferns we own took two years to fully recover from almost dying.

Read it here

…

“It’s hard to plan a vigil for something you don’t want to happen…”

These were some of the emotional opening words from my brother, Hadi Jawad tonight at a vigil to mark the execution of Edward Busby tonight.

Beyond simply…

It takes slow, patient, work to really build true community.
And it’s much easier to destroy than build up.

Take, for example, the hanging baskets on my front porch. This is a picture of our front porch this week. I…

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If you pay close attention, you can see a fascinating “new” conversation unfolding within progressive politics and social action. It has to do with the connection between progressive organizing, organized religion, and concepts like “faith” and “hope.”

Today’s essay is…

Coffee on the Porch Livestream for May 5th.

We talk extensively about the one year anniversary of CLEAR DFW’s clergy led vigils at the Dallas Ice Field Office.

I am grateful to Rabbi Kasten for her brilliant phrasing our…

“No, it’s not demoralizing....it’s re-moralizing...”

This is a quote from my dear sister Rabbi Nancy Kasten in a recent Dallas Morning News interview when asked to reflect back on our work and ministry with CLEAR DFW over this past year.

First, I want to commend the The Dallas Morning News for giving two stories on our current crisis with ICE and migrants front page coverage.

Here’s a screenshot of the front-page:

Their story about our CLEAR DFW clergy vigils tells…

I hope all Americans watch this video from New York Times Opinion. I am grateful they are elevating this issue for us all. You need to see this footage.

What you will see is video that shockingly reveals the…

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Thanks to everyone for joining us!
We talked about CLEAR DFW, and the one year anniversary…

Archive of Coffee on the Porch for April 14th.
I do an impromtu version of “From a Distance,” after we talk about Artemis II.
We talk about awe and wonder…and “The Overview Effect,” which I cover in this essay: