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Division and What To Do About It
Have just turned 56 years old, I had kind of planned to stop trying to write The Big Piece That Will Change Everything. I thought I would try to influence my church people and my clients, where possible. The world was just too nuts to make any difference, in so many ways that I didn’t…
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Guest Blogger — Rev. Todd Farnworth on Guns and Us
Editor’s note: This is probably the third time I have had a guest blogger whose ideas I wanted to share. The first was Joe Roberts and Cathi Chapin-Bishop on saving energy. The second was Liz Solomon Wright’s story about a Veteran who couldn’t get aid due to a policy. This is the third. Rev. Todd…
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“How To Figure Out Anything (About Ethics)”
Editor’s note: Every once in awhile, I have a sermon that expresses an important (to me) theological point. This is one of those. The beginning piece is from the morning’s news about Tamir Rice. Sermon given at Center Congregational Church, Torrington, CT 10/11/2015 “How To Figure Out Anything (About Ethics)” Ask my friends. I’m…
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This S— Has Got To Stop. It Just Does.
Today, more people died in a school massacre. I don’t need to publish the date, because — unless we do something NOW that first sentence will still be appropriate. Apparently, there have been 142 (One Hundred and Forty-Two!!!!) School shootings since Sandy Hook. This doesn’t include Columbine or the Colorado movie shooter! This has got…
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Reforming our Justice System: What It Should Look Like
Yesterday, some sheriff said that “Sandra Bland” wasn’t a model person/prisoner. Instead of getting a trial, she got killed. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Sandra Bland or anyone else (unless, of course, you are her family). It shouldn’t matter if she was Black or anything else. It shouldn’t matter if she’s a model prisoner, citizen,…
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From Jesus to St Francis to Jeff Brown — Ministry Where The Action Is
In one of those “small world” stories, I went to a conference with my wife where we had dinner with the chaplain (Rev. Jon Scott) that was there at the birth of my second daughter. While reminiscing about our time in seminary, we got to talking about a mutual friend, Rev. Jeff Brown. Jon asked…
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Reminders from “Selma”
It has been a long time since I was at seminary and a long time since I had a congregation to lead, which required spiritual time and Bible study, so sometimes these things fade into the distant haze of my brain and heart, and every once in awhile something reminds me of the things I…
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An Open Letter of Apology to My African-American Friends
My God, this is horrible. After recent events, and as a follower of Jesus, I feel like a disciple at the cross today, watching a friend die, or living with the possibility that they might. The last time I felt like this was when I thought of my daughters on the day of the Newtown…
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Full Citizenship and The Realm of God (For Gerri and George and Ken)
I dreamed last night about a T-Shirt/Bumper Sticker that said “Full Citizenship for African-Americans!”. I woke up this morning to my friend Cat Chapin-Bishop’s posting of a video where a Black man discuss being pulled over by the police as a time when he feared his life is in danger. After this summer’s events, it…
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It’s A Good Year For Thinking
We have a chance like we haven’t had in years. All of these things cause us to think, to challenge what we know about others, because we have come to realize we are the “others” — they are related to us as we attempt to relate to them. In short, because we care enough or…
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Resistance Is Necessary 