Opinion
Is Your Life Composed of Seasons or a Journey?
Is life composed of seasons? They have an orderliness that point to the structure of life itself. Or is life a journey? It starts somewhere and goes somewhere. An odyssey with an end, a goal. Perhaps a full life requires both.
Look Back | A Reality That Should Haunt, Help, Humble
Selective memory can cause many conservative Christians to wonder why their proclamations about what seems right to them are not readily accepted by others. Maybe it has to do with being on the wrong side of history so often.
Permission to Hope
The global pandemic is far from over, but a flicker of light illuminates hope. It would be easy to give in to the despair we all feel. However, after an excruciating and exhausting year, let’s give ourselves permission to hope.
Teachers Need Your Support Now More Than Ever
Education has been hobbled by the ongoing pandemic. We need to find ways to support our teachers in their work and encourage them as day by day they strive to teach, care, challenge, motivate and keep our children safe.
On the Horns of a Dilemma
A meaningful archaeological find recently turned up in the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria. Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the territory has been denied internationally except by the US. Politics are everywhere.
Who Mothers Us When We’re Alone for Holidays?
With COVID-19 curtailing family gatherings at Thanksgiving, we will miss the physical contact the most, like the mothering embraces from those we love. But we’re never alone. We’re always held close by a mothering God.
Baptists Plan Out Pilgrimage: The Reality – Part 2
A journey to historic Baptist churches that began as a way to get some different scenery for Sunday morning worship turned into lessons about building use, community, public witness, identity, courage and so much more.
Whites Don’t Get to Define Christianity for Others
White evangelical Christians see it as their prerogative to define what Christianity should look like for others. They can no longer filter the Bible for others and need to stop trying. It is not their story to own, shape or sell.
Baptists Plan Out Pilgrimage: A Dream – Part 1
It began as an idea to preach in historic pulpits but morphed into something greater. For two weary ministers, this pilgrimage became a chance to help their church – and those they visited – feel less isolated during the pandemic.
Emerging Voices | Hospitality: Easier to Give Than Receive
Christians focus on hospitality solely in the form of giving it, but each of us needs help sometimes. When we are in a place to receive hospitality, we must give up our power. We enter a frightening space of vulnerability.
Emerging Voices | LGBTQ+ Group Needs Baylor Recognition
Baylor University is in a unique position to assist and love its LGBTQ+ students. What better way to live and love like Jesus than to allow those students to officially organize on campus and find support in their peers.
New Research Offers Insight into Religious Lives of US Youth
Many young adults in the U.S. remain engaged in religious faith and practice but have little trust in religious institutions, a new report says, which surveyed more than 10,000 youth and conducted interviewed with 150.
Look Back | Lessons from Thomas Paine: Our Democratic Aristocracy
Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ delivered a devastating blow to the notion of the British monarchy and its attendant aristocracy. What if we updated and applied Paine’s same critiques to our own democratic aristocracy?
Baylor Must Be Safe Harbor for All Students
Baylor needs to reinterpret its statement on human sexuality to allow a non-discriminatory clause to be added for LGBT students. The university must become a safe, loving and accepting place for all students.
Trumpism Must Leave; Hope Must Enter
Even though the current president will leave the White House, his philosophy of Trumpism is still embraced by some 70 million voters. In short, Trumpism is here to stay. So what can good faith people do? Here are 6 suggestions.
US Must Now Nourish New Narrative
The election has brought about a change that a significant majority of voters believed was needed, yet divisions still exist. It won’t be enough for people to reject the old narrative; a new visionary narrative must be established.
Emerging Voices | Baylor Must Follow Students’ Lead, Charter LGBTQ+ Student Group
It’s time for Baylor’s administration to follow the lead of student government by firmly and explicitly committing to cultivating a diverse and inclusive university – one that supports and respects the dignity of LGBTQ+ students.
Life Goes On
We have a new presidential administration. A possible COVID-19 vaccine may be more than 90% effective. These changes bring us hope, but no matter what happens, good or bad, life will still roll on like a river.
Liminal Space: Will You Walk Through the Opened Door?
What is liminal space? Let’s just say it provides for us the context of possibility. These possibilities may involve risk, danger and suffering as well as profound fulfillment and joy. A door has opened, but will we walk through it?
Emerging Voices | Baylor’s Student Senate Affirms LGBTQIA+ Students
Making a powerful move toward equality, Baylor University’s Student Senate passed a resolution signaling to the LGBTQIA+ community that they are recognized and loved. Will the administration follow suit?
4 Things You Should Reflect on This Veterans Day
Veterans Day doesn’t often get much attention, possibly because it’s squeezed between two other cash-registering holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Yet here are four things people of faith should reflect on this Veterans Day.
Revelation 2020: Signs and Wonders
White nationalism got a healthy ‘Amen’ from white evangelicals en masse. Going forward, we cannot pretend this hasn’t happened. While we need to be listening and loving, we can’t pretend everything is fine.
Emerging Voices | Baylor Must Support LGBTQ+ Students
Although Baylor remains years behind the curve in LGBTQ+ rights, the school is in the unique position to change the lives of its LGBTQ+ students and to show the love of Christ to a group of people historically shunned by the church.
‘The Organ Thieves’
The Organ Thieves, a compelling new book by Charles ‘Chip’ Jones, explores the lack of thoughtful moral reflection that led to a lawsuit over the inappropriate recovery and subsequent transplantation of a man’s heart.
Will Your Church Be Out of Sync This Advent?
Advent is a season when the church and the world seem particularly out of sync. Those churches that tend to the pensive waiting of Advent nurture a quiet but powerful resistance to the world and its brash holiday cheer.
When You Serve in Church, Don’t Be a Gerald
Gerald, a wild turkey, closed a community park because of his bullying behavior toward visitors. This angry bird’s behavior is a lesson for all of us in church. Don’t behave like a Gerald, seeking to get our way at all costs.
America, We Still Do Not Know
Regardless of who wins the presidency, one truth is clear: The US remains deeply divided. And it is not only growing but becoming more intense. As people of good faith, here are steps you can take to help bridge the deep divide.
All the Light We Cannot See
Election Day results revealed the US public did not forcefully repudiate a politician who seems to revel in eliciting the worst human tendencies. But it’s important to look past our despair to see the many shining points of light.
After the Election, Who Shall We Be?
No one knows the final outcome of the U.S. presidential election, but we do know our marching orders as God’s people. But in case you need a refresher, here are some of the actions we should put into practice after the election.
Truth in Advertising
Election Day is over and all those grating political ads are gone until the next election. But wait. While the political ads may be no more, we’re still bombarded by ads that mislead the unwary. A prime offender? Drug companies.