I grew up in a family that believed in Jesus’ teachings of equality AND equity. African-Americans were as welcome in our home as anyone NOT African-American. My father taught the great Black composer, William Dawson of the Tuskegee Institute (now University) some of his first conducting lessons (I have an autographed copy of his ground-breaking work, the Negro Folk Symphony recorded by…

I heard a sermon once. It was offered by the Rev. Dr. Larry Greenfield and he likened life to a Frank Sinatra classic that included “do-be-do-be-do” in its lyrics. Biblically, I think the reference had to do with being saved by faith and not by works and he equated “faith” with the “be-ing” part of our journeys, while “works” was the “do-ing”…

As we start this traditional season of Advent with acts of terrorism rampant both at home and abroad, with violence and cynicism rising, with war and division becoming so commonplace that it is sometimes hard to remember how to be hope-filled, I am struck by part of Paul’s letter to the Romans: 22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult…

God’s fingerprints are all over our journey, so let’s see if we can get a glimpse of where we are being led now.

We are being Tested! Today is one of those days when it’s hard to be a pastor. It’s especially hard to be an urban pastor, and triply hard to be an urban pastor who mothers children of color. And yet, if we are to believe what our faith teaches us, then we are all urban pastors who parent children of color because…

10-10-22A good question arose in our Cuppa the Bible (AoF) discussion this morning and it really has me thinking: Can you have justice without equity? Of course the first thing to do is to look at what “equity” means if we’re not talking about finance and investments. In essence, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, “The term “equity” refers…

9/30/22 I’ve been thinking a lot about changes, lately. Well, really about changes and peoples’ self-definitions and how they change. At this time in upstate New York, the physical/seasonal changes are pretty obvious, really. The leaves changing colors are the most obvious, but there are also changes in light — not just the angle of the lighting, but the quality of it as…

Maybe it’s because I was a teacher earlier in my life; maybe it’s because I feel like a perpetual student; maybe it’s just that I like to buy new pens and notebooks, but this season is always exciting to me. After weeks of necessary and important breaks from our routine, we’re gearing up to reinstate them, though a few will be modified.…

The summer of 2022 is so very different from the last few years, isn’t it? At least from the “church” standpoint, it is beginning to feel a little more like an “old welcome” or a “homecoming” to some kind of relaxed calmness when we can all breathe a little deeper (even without a mask sometimes). Sometimes churches change the times in which…

03/14/2020 With the rising concerns for our people in relationship to COVID-19, South Church has temporarily suspended our Acts of Faith ministries as they are ALL community based. However, that doesn’t mean that we discontinue being a Faith Community. So today we start our grand experiment in virtual sacred space. We have spent the week listening for the Holy Spirit among the…