"He Will Hold Me Fast"

An Annapolis classmate shared this week that he was present the day fellow citizens stormed the Capitol. His confession and vitriol disturbed me. As a result, I began a period of intentional listening. I am trying to understand why smart people boil with anger and trust in claims I find far-fetched. That's taken me into deep conversations about faith, wealth redistribution, carbon credits, climate change, racism, immigration policy, journalism, graft, and cynicism towards government interventions. If you have insights you can share, please interact with me by responding to this email.

The Race on the Rocks podcast audience continues to grow. Next Wednesday, we will publish Episode 9, which deals with Jim Crow in the North. I think it is the most powerful and informative session yet. If there is one episode I wish everyone shared with their family and friends, this is it. If you'd like to help this ministry, pass along this link.

Why and How We Birthed Jim Crow

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This week we published what was for me one of the most eye-opening episodes of the Race on the Rocks podcast of the twenty recorded so far. My guest was Dr. Kevin Boyle, Pulitzer Prize finalist, winner of the National Book Award, and professor at Northwestern University. Before our conversation, I could describe some of the ways racial discrimination was manifest in my native South. Still, because they were repealed when I was a toddler, I knew of them only as the context that explained the civil rights movement. I didn't understand what ends my ancestors had in mind when they created them or how they functioned to achieve those ends. More importantly, I didn't understand how they shaped my parents' and grandparents' worldviews in ways they unconsciously passed on to me. Kevin Boyle helped me make sense of it all. Perhaps our conversation will help you, too.

King Cotton Strikes Back: The Ruin of Reconstruction

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I was taught a self-serving myth about Reconstruction. Perhaps you were, too. The myth was propaganda generated long after Reconstruction ended, an explanation to the world that questioned why our first great civil rights movement ended in failure and retrenchment. When I read multiple history books on the period, I felt betrayed. I felt angry because I'd been lied to - the history books in my middle school and high school classrooms excluded the wonderful stories of this extraordinarily idealistic period of American history in which leaders achieved real civil rights progress because those stories contradicted the myths with which my forebears retrospectively justified destroying those gains. But I quickly passed through that sense of betrayal to a profound appreciation for our American struggle to build the diverse, equitable, and inclusive nation our Founding Fathers imagined. I found hope in this episode. Perhaps you will, too.

Dialog with a Skeptic

This weekend I will conclude my series, Dialog with a Skeptic. I've been engaging many of the criticisms raised by agnostics and atheists as they explain this unbelief. I am excited because it's finally my chance to explain why I trust in God despite their often valid critiques.

Faith & Suffering

This week, my message was about suffering. Why do we suffer? Why do bad things happen? And, if our God is a loving and all-powerful God, why does God allow such suffering? How does Jesus teach us to think about suffering? If you know someone going through a difficult period of suffering, they may find this message helpful.

Faith and All That Bad Stuff in the Bible

What kind of God sanctions genocide, the suppression of women, and all that other bad stuff in the Bible? If that's what God is like, why would a rational person trust God? In this message, I wrestled with some parts of Scripture you may never have heard read in worship to address skeptics' questions.

Lagniappe Love

I listened to Shane & Shane for twelve hours straight, worshipping in my rental truck when I departed Baton Rouge for grad school at Duke so many years ago. Today, amidst the chaos of our national life, I am blessed by this beautiful hymn.