The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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It really wasn't a big deal, but the lady thought it was. I was walking into the grocery store when I heard a scrape of metal. A lady drove over the curb and now the curb was lodged between her front and rear tires. In other words, she was stuck. I stopped and told her I'd guide her. I had her edge forward, turn sharply, back up and so on until she positioned herself out of this predicament. When I got her safely situated, she said, "Mister, you're an angel sent from the Lord." I thought,...
It’s a Facebook page for denominational pastors, and it was recommended to me by our student pastor. I’ve since offered it to several others, telling them it will entertain or make you angry. The anger comes when you see how narrow-minded some ministers are about issues that are, in my opinion, secondary, reminiscent of the age-old question, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” But the entertainment value is there, too. One pastor said the family played “Spirit In The Sky” at a...
A college colleague told me about a tense Sunday morning when he was a part-time pastor. The deacon chairman confronted him before worship with a stern request (the Baptist deacon chairman is akin to a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army). “We’re gonna’ wait until after the service, but we want to meet with you IMMEDIATELY when it’s done,” he scowled. It’s been some years since he told me this, and laughed about it then, but I forgot the punch line. I don’t know if he was terminated or lived to pre...
I last talked with him in June after my wife asked, “Who do you want to do your funeral?” “Jim Auchmuty,” I quickly replied. I called Jim, who agreed, after asking me why the hurry. He oversaw my mother-in-law’s funeral two years ago and was always a caring presence. Jim died Aug. 5 at age 90 after a short illness. After serving for 27 years at Shades Crest Baptist Church in Birmingham, in retirement he served First Baptist Church Roebuck Plaza for 25 years. He went to Roebuck as interim a...
It's a fairly new verb--"ghosted." Merriam-Webster added it in 2017. And I guess I did it. I used a certain business for many years and then hit a rough patch. They were closed on a number of occasions, and I never seemed to know the schedule. In the meanwhile, I found another business with regular hours of operation and more conveniently located and began to use them. This is what "ghosted" means. It normally applies to one who stops posting on social media or to removing someone as a media...
Why evil exists is one of the mysteries of our faith. Sometimes evil is welcomed when people choose to do something forbidden or enjoy perversity, but often evil appears as a temptation we don’t seek, and we succumb to it. During the Covid-19 era we sometimes wished we could see the virus and know when to flee. It would be good to visualize evil and know when to flee it, too. Because evil exists, Christians sometimes do unchristian things. Such was the case in the ancient church in Corinth, t...
“Our flag was still there” after the British assault on Ft. McHenry in 1814. Now there’s a different assault. Some protest the American flag in the worship place, decrying “Christian nationalism.” We probably have some who equate the USA with the “new Jerusalem,” but I don’t know that I’ve ever met them. They’re certainly not in any church I’ve ever served. What I’ve seen in my pastoral experience is sincere Christians who love God and love their country. Many of them served their homeland i...
It was a number of years ago when I was in the book signing line to meet former first lady Laura Bush. I fell into conversation with a nice gentleman just behind me when, suddenly, two big men in suits came to him, identifying themselves as federal agents and asked him to come with them. When he returned he was ashen. He said the two agents told him he had a pocketknife, and they were going to confiscate it until the event was done. We puzzled over this since there wasn’t a magnetometer that we...
George W. Bush famously said, “When I was young and foolish, I was young and foolish.” Me, too, Mr. President. We used the Revised Standard Version of the Bible in the classroom at the seminary I attended, and I used it also in my weekend preaching in rural Indiana. The parishioners never questioned this. Since they had a steady contingent of student preachers from Louisville, I’m sure they were accustomed to this particular translation. We moved back to Alabama after graduation. I conti...
Our denominational publishing house contacted me last year after a writer had to drop out of an assignment. The editor asked if I could write guidelines for teachers to go along with the curriculum. Since the three lessons were from the Gospel of John, I relished this study and found it rewarding. One of the lessons was about the healing at the Pool of Siloam. Jesus spat in the dust, made a pasty poultice, covered the eyes of the blind man and asked him to wash in the nearby pool. So why did...
A denominational organization just endured a time of testing. Critics said it was “woke” and took money from a liberal icon whose name is anathema to conservatives. An independent researcher found that 98 percent of funding came from the denomination, and the remaining two percent from individuals, not including this icon. The charge couldn’t be proven, yet the charge was oft repeated. Of course, the accusation implied that contributions meant control. This episode brings up the age-old quest...
American Express launched an ad campaign in 1987 entitled, “Membership Has Its Privileges,” a phrase that found root in pop culture. I don’t think we’ve used the phrase in church, but we’ve traditionally said something similar. Evangelicals say, “Trust Christ, be baptized and join the church.” However, numbers of people today declare their love for God and attend, but may join the church later, or never. Studies show about half of American adults belong to a church, but a “significant...
A prominent businessman approached the pastor to discuss his brother’s funeral. The deceased was widely known in the community as a scoundrel. The man told the pastor, “I’ll give you $500 if you’ll call my brother a ‘saint’ in your funeral sermon.” The pastor thought long and hard. On the day of the funeral he stood to say, “John was a bad man, a bully and a thief, but compared to his brother, he was a saint!” Delivering funeral orations is among the most demanding pastoral tasks. I’ve condu...
A pastor on a denominationally-related Facebook page took issue with ministers dressing casually in the pulpit. This is truly an unwinnable argument. Many congregations have been influenced by the contemporary church movement—though this movement from the 80s is hardly contemporary anymore. One of the precepts is that members intentionally “dress down.” A common excuse from the unchurched was they didn’t have “Sunday clothes.” Hence, the argument went, we’ll do away with both Sunday clothe...
I stopped by a fast-food restaurant en route to work lately and saw the line of cars around the building. I decided walking in for a morning biscuit would be faster. However, the lady at the counter said, “We’re out of biscuits and won’t have any for 20 more minutes.” I saw the biscuit-maker behind the counter who was working furiously, and I decided not to wait. Another gentleman in a work uniform walked out with me. He snidely said, “Who’s got 20 minutes?” “Right?” I said snidely back. I’v...
A local church is meeting elsewhere during renovations, and their electronic sign flashes, “Temporary worship.” It is only the next panel that tells the current location, so be patient! This made me think about temporary worship I was in for a few weeks. I was pastor at First Baptist Church, Selma, when we did some major roof and ceiling repairs. We asked (at the time) First Presbyterian across the street if we might use their sanctuary for the ten weeks. Our neighbors responded with kin...
It was a tradition I grew up with. On the second Wednesday the typical Bible study and prayer time was laid aside for 45 minutes of hearing reports and making motions—the Baptist business meeting. Sometimes it would be tedious and sometimes boring and sometimes contentious. I was a teen-ager when one evening the treasurer announced he wanted to purchase membership in a new box store where customers could buy in bulk. “The membership is $8,” he said, “but we’ll save that much on the first tri...
Those who follow a legend have a daunting task. Consider Joshua who followed Moses of whom it was said he knew God face-to-face! But Joshua had been a careful student learning from the mentor who instructed him. Joshua isn’t remembered as a lawgiver as Moses was. Not really a King John or Thomas Jefferson giving great legal documents, but more like Patton driving the German army out of North Africa. He would be the general who brought the people into the land of promise. Just before his death Jo...
It’s been my experience that funeral home directors generally have a great sense of humor. I asked a gentleman about this once and he explained that a sense of humor is the only thing that saved him from awful depression. I can imagine these men and women deal with the greatest of tragedies. But on the other hand, I’ve heard some interesting stories from them. One funeral home employee told me about trying to salvage a graveside service after several pallbearers were drunk, and one fell into the...
Christian author, Lee Strobel, was in Birmingham last year. I met him and heard his fascinating story of abandoning atheism for a life of faith. Strobel, a journalist and legal reporter for “The Chicago Tribune,” was an unbeliever when his wife came to faith. She did was Peter admonished in his first letter, “letting her light shine” rather than nagging him for his unbelief! Stroebel was struck by the changes in her life and began a journalistic investigation into the gospel record, resulti...
Our Alabama Baptist retreat at Shocco Springs is a gorgeous place, and I’ve enjoyed every event I’ve attended there. Several years ago, I attended a two-day training course for pastors. A conference for senior adults was on site at the same time. I saw that the other group was having a concert that night when our group wasn’t meeting, so I went. The singer did a great job. He sang some “oldies” like “Silhouette” by Peter Noone and “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” by Elvis. He sang the...
My neighbor stopped me to announce he’d taken up lawn care as a second job. He asked if I’d be interested in patronizing him. I’ve always taken care of our yard, without charge, but I know sometimes things happen on weekends, or I get rained out. “How much would it cost?” I inquired. “Probably about sixty dollars,” he said. I was shocked. The last time I priced lawns was when I was 12 or 13 years old. I mowed three yards in the neighborhood. Mrs. Harris’s yard was $6, Mrs. Herron’s was $4...
I was thinking lately about when phone calls were segregated by “local” and “long distance.” This segregation sometimes was strange, since I knew some who lived on different phone exchanges--when they talked, one paid a toll and the other didn’t. And then I remembered two incidents in churches when long distance charges became an issue. I served a church in Indiana while a student in Louisville, and we made the 75-mile trip every weekend. The nearest mid-sized town where the emergency clinic an...
Admiral James Stockdale faced the nation at the vice-presidential debate in October 1992. Businessman Ross Perot named him as his running mate, so Stockdale stood with Vice President Dan Quayle and Sen. Al Gore in Atlanta. When it was his first time to speak, Stockdale said, “Who am I? Why am I here?” This turned out to be a laugh line and parody, which is unfortunate. Stockdale was a decorated soldier who spent seven years as a POW in Vietnam. But his questions are good ones for us in the chu...
It was the closest I ever came to my “big showbiz break,” as Rush Limbaugh called it. I got through to Kit Carson, EIB’s call screener (after about 50 tries!). It was my birthday, so I hoped it would be a good ploy to get online with Maha Rushie. I also said I’d like to ask him about a book he talked of writing called “The Back Nine.” Screener Kit said they were jammed for the afternoon, but he’d call the next day. Alas, it was not to be since I never got the call-back, nor did Rush write th...
