The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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She called to report the death of a lady in our former church, and I thought about several things. I was saddened to learn the deceased had been in declining health and in a care facility not too far away. I could have, and should have, found a reason to stop by to visit. I suppose we all have regrets thinking about people for whom we’ve lost touch. And it’s true that maintaining friendships in former churches used to be frowned on by some. I remember a minister from my teenage years who was rel...
I got a little good-natured blowback recently when I introduced the death angel to our congregation. I took as my text Paul's final visit with the Ephesian elders in Act 20. I extemporized about the uncertainty of life. The apostle said, "I will see your face no more." He had a premonition that chains and imprisonment awaited him in Jerusalem. Paul was, indeed, arrested in the city and Rome sent him as a prisoner to the capital. It was in Rome, we believe, he was killed at Nero's order. I...
My cousin laughingly told me about attending a product demonstration event years ago in Nashville. Reba Rambo, daughter of well-known Christian artist, Dottie Rambo, sang some of the new music along with the recordings the company offered. One of the numbers was quite lively, and Ms. Rambo began to clap to the music and asked the assembled ministers to clap with her. Someone in the front row refused and sat stone faced. Ms. Rambo stopped the tape and peered down at him from atop the stage....
It was a church slogan used in many places years ago: “The end of your search for a friendly church.” But let’s think about a new slogan: “The end of your search for a perfect church.” I remember a lady who presented herself for membership at the church I pastored at the time. I’d met her about two years before at a neighboring church when I led a Bible study. She came to us and quickly presented herself for membership, but from a different church than where we’d met. Thus she’d been a member a...
We grew up as high school friends and he became a music leader for church congregations. He told me the most embarrassing day was when he mounted the steps to the platform to begin worship, tripped and fell headlong onto the floor. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt, but there are better ways to begin worship. I thought of this lately when another pastor told a group of us about a famous pulpiteer from another generation who said as he mounted each stair that he would pray, “Fill me. Fill me,” besee...
The prison warden circulated a note to inmates asking for suggestions on the kind of party they'd recommend for his 25th anniversary. The prisoners all had the same idea: open house! Christmas is the season when many people have “open house” parties. But “open house” is misnamed, isn’t it? When you plan an open house, do you invite everyone? I rather doubt it. We must be exclusive, for there isn’t enough food, or space or time to invite everyone. Some folks by necessity get left out. This i...
A church friend travels the country transporting automobiles for car dealers and told me, “There’s no good way to get to Denver.” I think he’s right. We trusted the GPS and found ourselves amongst lonely Kansas wheat fields and windmills for many miles. Actually we intended to get to Denver in two days. Our son transferred there and asked us to drive his car. The first day was grueling as we drove from Birmingham to Tulsa. But then we learned the moving company wouldn’t arrive for another f...
It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Actually, no. It was a long time ago, but it wasn’t so far away. It was at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Ethics professor Dr. Henlee Barnette taught one day about God and government. In his lecture he read from a newspaper editorial written by a preacher who was part of the “Old Christian Right,” broadcasting at the time on 500 radio stations and 250 TV stations. This preacher condemned Communism, integration and Billy...
January 12, 2025 - The Alabama Humanities Alliance honored writer Rick Bragg recently in Birmingham. In his dialogue with Roy Wood, Jr., Bragg mentioned that not everyone believed his writing to be good. Stephen King ripped him when reviewing his Jerry Lee Lewis biography for “The New York Times.” Bragg’s friend, the late Pat Conroy, called to encourage him. “Stephen King saying Rick Bragg can’t write is like Taylor Swift saying Patsy Cline can’t sing!” Conroy said. Stephen King is a great wr...
The recent memorial service for President Jimmy Carter reminded me of the time in 2004 that our history and collectors’ club president, Roger, invited me at our annual banquet in Americus, Ga. to sit to President Carter’s left at the head table. I was excited at this possibility and thought ahead of time what I might say. That evening our speaker was former White House drug czar, Dr. Peter Bourne, who published a biography of Carter in 1997. He sat to the president’s right and the two men conver...
I heard a pastor lately who quoted an article by Quaker minister Philip Gulley, entitled, “If The Church Were Christian.” This is a striking title, and it caused me to think of my own response in addition to the original author’s thoughts. If the church were Christian, the church would be welcoming. James was very clear in the New Testament: “My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” (James 2:1). In James’ day it was the rich a...
I’ve seen a few incidents that make me wonder if it’s true football is a religion. At a funeral a few years ago I read a sign posted on the chapel door. It said, in effect, not to talk about the day’s earlier football game since the family had been busy and planned to watch the recorded game after the funeral concluded. I wondered who they thought might have stepped in to speak a word of comfort to the grieving family and brought up football, or worse, ribbed them about their team’s defeat?...
It happened twice in recent months and taught me a lesson about priorities. I saw one lady at a political rally where she asked for support in an upcoming election. Her family joined our church when she was a child, and she reminded me, “Pastor, you baptized me at our church.” And I saw the second young lady at a 12-year-old football game. Her son and our grandson were on the same team. “You baptized me when I was a little girl,” she said. Few things are as important as taking time for boys an...
I met him while visiting our daughter’s church lately, and we had a brief conversation. I asked about his lifework, and he said he was an attorney, but he’d considered Christian ministry as a young man. My response, conditioned on recent research I’ve seen, was, “You could do both!” He indicated he’d thought about this, but our conversation was interrupted before we could delve into details. Most denominations report a shortage of pastors, including a shortage of bi-vocational pastors--th...
My sister and I attended the Peter Noone concert last Christmas and heard "Herman" from the original Herman's Hermits who celebrated his 77th birthday recently. I remember he joked that at his concerts there was no danger of anyone rushing the stage. He said this as he looked out at our audience, many of us with knee replacements, bad backs and walking canes! My generation grew up with AM radio and rock and roll. And we still like both, though AM is getting harder to find. Research shows that...
It all started with “Facebook Live” that so many of us began to experiment with during Covid-19. The U.S. government forbade public gatherings, and churches were included in the order. Thus “two weeks to stop the spread” morphed into several months with no public meetings. Our church, like many others, was thrust into the broadcast business without warning. Our first efforts were feeble, indeed. We struggled with getting a good Internet connection in our worship place, and then we used my lapt...
I don’t get to attend other churches much, so it was nice to visit another church lately. I attend a hobby club every year in Georgia and have most often driven home Saturday night. However, last year I hit an obstacle on the darkened road and blew a tire, so no more night driving on unfamiliar roads! This church had the ambiance of other Baptist churches. People talked and visited before and after. Someone turned off the sanctuary lights at some point which is the Baptist way of saying, ...
We sang it recently in worship. It’s a beautiful song about the word of God. It was called “contemporary” years ago but now seen as mainstream. Our congregation sang it loud and proud. No one got upset about it, but I remembered a person who did. At the time, a number of years ago, the lyric writer, whose name was inscribed at the bottom of the page, had been in the news the week before. She had a very public separation from her husband, and reportedly was in love with someone else alrea...
I’ve written good-natured laments in recent months about young preachers. I was one, and was called on at 15 and 16 to speak God’s truth. One of my friends told me about his first sermon as a teenager. “I had three points,” he said. “Go to church, read the Bible and be good. That’s all I had!” I suppose, likewise, I spoke sincerely but with little profundity. I was interested to see a recent story in Baptist Press about the Francis Lake Baptist Church in Georgia. Not only is the congregation...
I showered and dressed on a recent Saturday and drove to nearby Hoover for a Christian fest event. However, the parking lot was sparse when I arrived a few minutes before the scheduled hour. The nice reception lady searched the calendar and told me the event was the following Saturday. I suppose in my eagerness to attend I neglected the important detail of verifying the date. But I’m not the only one who’s been dressed and ready and missed an appointment. History is replete with those who...
It’s a new day in book-reading since audio books and podcasts abound. And many bibliophiles now prefer e-books. Bookshelves can pile up with a lifetime of book purchases and handling boxes of books can be backbreaking when moving to a new place. I was interested in a discussion about books I heard in a recent ministers meeting. One participant said he listens to audio books, and sometimes listens to fiction audiobooks as he goes to sleep. I wondered if this particular reading counts in the n...
It was in 2007 after attending a continuing education event in Washington, D.C. that I had a little discretionary time on the weekend. I drove to Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va. to visit influential pastor Dr. Jerry Falwell’s church thinking I’d hear him and say “hello.” I attended the early service and heard his son speak and remained for the Bible study hour to hear Dr. Elmer Towns who I’d met and heard previously. Not knowing that the elder Falwell was only speaking in the later...
Emmitt was among the finest Christian men I’ve ever known. He was retired and available to help make pastoral calls when I was the new pastor learning my way around. He was also a Gideon and distributed Bibles regularly. As a successful businessman, he offered wise financial advice, and he served as treasurer for our church. But one thing Emmit wouldn’t do is attend any meeting at church when we ate, including coffee and cake at after-Sunday night fellowships. Accordingly, he didn’t favor spend...
The late Robert Schuller noted that the way we treat the English language is terrible. We say, for example, “This is the worst thing that could ever happen,” or “I’ll never get over this.” Most of us have said this at some point, and, most often, after dreadful things have happened. We probably believed the truth of our immediate response, though in retrospection would admit neither is true. But we continue to misuse words. I read someone lately who cited another misuse; namely when we say to...
I’ve often commented on our Baptist system whereby young ministers are sent to the pulpit immediately after announcing their call to divine service. Thus, some of us began to preach at 15 or 16 years old. And I have friends who began to pastor churches by age 18. Having young pastors might become more common since research shows a shortage of pastors. I’m yet searching for answers to this trend. A denominational official told me lately that he thought churches don’t encourage commitment to vo...
