“Um…so what’s that interesting necklace you’re wearing?”
I am at the Kerrville Folk Festival, on a sweaty May afternoon. I’m with a group of fellow musicians, and one has again asked me a question I’ve been asked many times before…
Read more“Um…so what’s that interesting necklace you’re wearing?”
I am at the Kerrville Folk Festival, on a sweaty May afternoon. I’m with a group of fellow musicians, and one has again asked me a question I’ve been asked many times before…
Read moreIs it possible to have differing, but equally valid, moral and ethical positions on the film “The Whale?”
I sure hope so. I could be about to test this in what follows.
Whatever your views on the film, on food…
Read moreToday is Texas Independence Day.
As a student at UT Austin, I remember celebrating this day with all the pride I could muster.
Today, years later, I’m thinking about what I didn’t know then, what I do know now, and…
Earlier this week, I shared about Ash Wednesday, a year ago…some time I spent by the Roberts Forest fire pit, praying, crying, playing guitar.
What I didn’t say then was that a song, in honor of my Mom, poured…
Read moreA year ago Ash Wednesday…
It is about this time of night(1) I have not come home from church, but instead I am sitting alone in Roberts Forest at KPUMC. The fire pit is dying down. (This is an actual…
Read moreWhether or not you are a Christian, if you’re looking for the kind of human I believe best exemplifies my Christian faith, look no further than Jimmy Carter. If you are increasingly convinced there is no such this as a…
Read moreIt’s likely that mainline United Methodists are only vaguely aware of the “revival” happening at United Methodist-adjacent Asbury College. But it’s an event that evangelicals across denominational lines can’t stop talking about, and so I’ll jump in a bit today.
…
Read moreAs I watched Rihanna perform her remarkable Halftime show yesterday —pregnant and suspended alone in mid air— my thoughts immediately went to both the new HULU 1619 Documentary, and also a sobering study reported on by the New York…
Read moreCongressional Republicans:
Decades ago, Joe Biden told you he was a fighter from Scranton.
If you paid attention at all, you knew this.
McCarthy warned you not to heckle, but you did anyway; and “Sleepy Joe” Jedi mind-tricked you into…
Read moreCody McMahan died Saturday. I had the privilege of knowing Cody for perhaps 15-20 years….I believe I’ve lost count.
I believe I first met him when Cody was still a member of Greenland Hills UMC. He later joined Northaven, and…
Read moreKessler Park Friends:
It’s been some time since I’ve updated you on the ongoing “split” in the United Methodist Church. I’ve been trying very hard not to “over-share” the play-by-play of almost daily developments, because it seems to me this…
Read moreIt’s time to reclaim January 6th. It’s time to remember that, for 2,000 years, this date had a meaning not at all connected with Donald Trump and the insurrectionist takeover of our nation’s Capitol.
I am not suggesting we “forget”…
Read moreWe human creatures are deeply frail and fragile beings, and behind every tough exterior lives a frightened little child.
It doesn’t matter whether we are “battle hardened soldiers,” or “bleeding heart artists.”
It doesn’t matter if we are “brawny men,”…
Read moreThis week, as I reread the first verses of Luke’s Christmas story, I thought about Rey (from Star Wars), and about my own governor, Greg Abbott.
Director JJ Abrams masterfully introduces the character of Rey to us in “The Force…
Read moreIt’s Christmas Day, and so it’s the perfect day to talk about shit.
I’ve probably already lost some of you, because you don’t think preachers are supposed to use such words. But for those who aren’t already writing my Bishop…
Read more“Now…remind me again….which of the Beatles are still alive?”
“Paul and Ringo, Mom.”
It is Thanksgiving Day, one year ago tomorrow. We are at our family’s Lakehouse, and we are watching Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” documentary which has just dropped…
Read moreRead more“All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.””
Luke 15: 1-2“Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He…
Today would be my Mom’s 88th Birthday, and we miss her alot. Anniversaries are hard.
But, I’ve been thinking alot about her 60th birthday this month, since I just had mine. That day –right about this time of morning, on…
Read more