A couple of years ago, a church board of which I’m a member made a large grant to Literacy Mid-South. Since I was encouraging many of you to volunteer with this organization as part of this new partnership, I thought it might be time to practice what I preach and volunteer myself. I went through
Last week, after church, my son and I packed up the car and drove over the Mississippi River bridge. We were bound for the small town of Newport, Arkansas, where I had scored a last-minute reservation for a room in a hotel that didn’t look too seedy. We got
Yesterday I was talking with a fellow Calvary-ite, and he pulled out his phone mid-conversation to share two quotations from Tom Shadyac’s Lenten sermon of last week. A lot of things are worth pointing out about this moment. One, his phone was a tool of focus and not distraction (but that’s
Throughout my life, I have heard the adage, ‘God loves a cheerful giver,’ particularly during church stewardship drives. But I have never heard anyone say, ‘God loves a cheerful receiver.’ I wonder why that is. I think we all want to be givers or feel we’re in a position to give. There is joy in
This blog isn’t usually where you’ll find breaking news, but today it is. Last week, Monument Lab in Philadelphia announced the second cohort of teams in its Re:Generation initiative to “create new or to expand existing public art, public history, or public humanities projects.”
Buckle up, friends, because Calvary’s 101st Lenten Preaching Series is about to take off, and the lineup is bursting with brilliant, compassionate preachers.
The depth and breadth of the list is remarkable. Where else but in Calvary’s LPS would you find a Rabbi (Micah Greenstein), an Imam (Anwar Arafat), a Unitarian Pastor (Sam Teitel), a Presbyterian
In the middle of Luke’s telling of the Nativity story, the angels say to the shepherds, “This will be a sign for you; you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” It’s a rare event in the Bible when God’s messengers make things so abundantly clear.
One of the tributes to former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who died last month, described how she became a champion for persons impacted by mental health. During her husband Jimmy’s campaign for governor of Georgia, she frequently heard from voters distressed about the conditions of family members living at a crowded psychiatric center in Milledgeville,
I love the mailbox. I loved the mailbox in my childhood home: a box with a door on both sides built into the thick wall next to the front door. The mail carrier slid everything in from the outside, and we opened it from the inside – turning a little latch to a
‘I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.’ – Ephesians 1:16
During these days when our thoughts turn to Thanksgiving, Ruthie and I are especially thankful for two people who were very formative in our journey. They were our Sunday School teachers when we were children, Helen Wall