Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church

Here’s a little story, in the spirit of our Scripture readings and, I guess, Valentine’s Day. The poet Thomas Lux was driving his car down the interstate on one of those mountain passages of I-40, outside of Asheville. If you’ve been to Montreat or to Asheville you know what I’m talking about. There is a … Continue reading Sweatheart

Dr. Stacy Johnson speaking at the NEXT Church national gathering in 2012, said that there are two ways of living as a Christian. We can live as those who are perishing, or live as though we are being saved.[1] Most of us, most of the time, live as those who are perishing. We organize our … Continue reading Choosing to Live

Smarting from a mid-term election defeat in November of 1966, Dr. King gathered together the 75 staff members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement to retreat off the coast of South Carolina to rest, retrain, and regroup. It didn’t go well. “Dr. King we love you,” one staff member … Continue reading Unity Under Pressure

I wish angels gave some warning as to their arrival, especially this one. Gabriel is the slayer angel – God’s warrior. I only know this because a rabbi responded with shock the first time he heard the details of this story from Luke. We were standing outside the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth looking … Continue reading Angel, Unannounced

In those days, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” I love how Matthew introduces John this way, like some kind of apparition or magic trick. One day there was only desert, hard-scrabble sand and stone, no living thing visible to the naked eye, … Continue reading Unlikely Messengers: John The Baptist

Isaiah looked around at his world and saw mostly bad news. Cities burned with fire (1:7). Land devoured by other nations (1:7). A nation on the verge of destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah (1:9). Most of the first 39 chapters of Isaiah tell some version of that story – verse after verse of doom and … Continue reading The Power of Light

I used to think God’s noticing is what sets God apart. That God notices our suffering or others’ even when we don’t. That God has an almost infrared ability to pick up on the silent suffering of others, to notice it with few clues or evidence. I think that may be true about God – … Continue reading One is Better Than Zero

Will Campbell preached his first sermon at the tender age of seventeen, in a tiny wooden church tucked between farms on the outer edges of Liberty, Mississippi. He was skinny and nervous and looked it. He placed his grandfather’s pocket watch on the lectern in front of him so he wouldn’t ramble on too long … Continue reading Playing Favorites

“This is a deserted place,” the disciples tell Jesus. Not just the physical space away from the crowds, away from people. But the space they have entered after Jesus gets the worst news you can imagine. The kind of news that you wake up to everyday wishing it was just a dream. The kind of … Continue reading Where Do We Go From Here?