What to do? Many of you have asked me in the last several weeks, “So what are we going to do?” What I hear in your question is that you feel moved by God to create a different kind of world, where all people, regardless of skin color, experience dignity, justice, freedom Read More...
I was taught that there were five senses: taste, touch, sight, smell, sound. All ways of knowing the world around us, of taking in the beauty of a hibiscus blossom or the sumptuousness of the first summer tomato. Something resonates in the heart when we hear a loved one’s voice on the other end of the telephone. Our senses do not just make us safe. They seem like a passageway to the soul.
Clarence Jordan was a farmer. Clarence Jordan was a New Testament Greek scholar. Clarence Jordan was a Southern Baptist minister and social activist. Clearly, he was not your ordinary kind of farmer.
A year ago, I visited for the first time in my life, the place where Jesus likely hung on a cross to die. We sat in lush green garden with sweet smelling flowers and looked out a dusty red earthen hillside on the edge of a rugged curved road. We sat in Read More...
Last week, some of us worshipped together with others demonstrating and speaking out against racist violence and injustice in our country. On Friday night, a group of youth and young adults joined together at the Nelson-Atkins Museum to walk over to a peaceable demonstration at the Plaza. Wearing masks and keeping our distance from each other, we marched, led by a minister at Unity Southeast Church and kneeling for a few minutes in honor of George Floyd.
It has been a heavy week. After spending 13 weeks worried about a pandemic, we added a worry about the fabric of our community. Would the fibers hold or fray? It would be easy to give in to despair. Perhaps like you, I began to relive moments of my own narrative where Read More...
As our community is beginning to lift some of the restrictions on public gatherings I want to share with you an update on our plans as a church community. I have been in conversation with other area faith leaders, congregations of our size across the country, our church board and staff. We Read More...
A young father recently told me, “I am realizing that our family doesn’t need more vacations, we just need to spend time at home hanging out together and enjoying each other.” And my son drove home from Nashville last night and at our dinner table he proclaimed, “Wow, it’s so good to Read More...
My dear friend and former co-presenter Dr. Gloria Thomas Anderson and I recently enjoyed a conversation on “Loving Life Choices: Looking at Your Life and How You Want to Be Remembered.” The interview aired on Sun., May 17 and can be viewed below:
How would you finish that sentence? Please email me or text me (816-381-9253) with your completion to that sentence. Here are a few from where I sit... Now more than ever, I am enjoying sitting down to dinner with my husband every night and savoring a home cooked meal. Now more than Read More...
Each of us has our own perspective on Mother’s Day. You may reflect on the experience of your own mother or your journey of being a mother. The two characteristics I celebrate most on Mother’s Day are tender nurture and tenacious strength. Growing up I felt my Mom’s tender nurture through lovingly Read More...
As the days drag on, the earth bursts forth in beauty. I find my heart ricocheting between savoring the now and worrying about the future. So I thought today we could sit back and notice the signs of hope around us and within us. Volunteerism is up. Applications to volunteer in New Read More...
This Sunday will be our seventh Sunday to meet for worship via live stream rather than in person. We began on Sunday, March 15. Three days prior to that a nurse friend told me, “Churches probably need to take a few weeks off and then come back boldly with a huge grand Read More...
One week after Easter, Thomas still doubts that Jesus has risen from the dead. He wants to see for himself the mark of the nails in Jesus’ side and in his hands. Sometimes we give Thomas a hard time and call him “doubting Thomas” but Thomas gets the same view that the Read More...
Today is Good Friday. But every day for the last several weeks has felt a bit like Good Friday. We watch the death toll rise and we stay inside. We pray with deeper fervor. We fear what will happen next to the economy and the ones we love. We wonder when good Read More...
