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In the Dreamtime that was Portland – Poetry Before General Conference
At the 2016 United Methodist General Conference in Portland, Oregon, I watched a group of children playing in a fountain and was moved to write a poem about the struggle my church was going through. I still hold on to the dream that we can breathe again as the 2019 Called General Conference convenes in… →
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How Bonnie and Clyde Helped Make Me a Methodist Preacher (or Getting to Know Your Community Can Transform Your Church)
Bonnie and Clyde get a little credit for my seminary experience. The Depression Era gangsters got their start in Eagle Ford, a flood-prone neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. While they gained a lot of notoriety for their exploits, when they were killed by law enforcement agents in a Louisiana ambush in 1934, everyone recognized the tragedy… →
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Race, Virginia, and Jesus’ Circle of Favor
It has been a disturbing week in Virginia government. Once again, we are struggling with how we address questions of race and racism. This time Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring are both confronted with incidents from their past involving appearances in blackface, a remnant of minstrel shows where the entertainment came… →
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The Parable of Stuckey’s: A Story of Church?
Despite the fact that one of my most traumatic childhood episodes happened in a New Mexico Stuckey’s, I have always been in the thrall of the teal blue roofs that promise Mexican blankets, cheap sandwiches, and lots of pecan-themed candies. The trauma came as a result of Stuckey’s time-honored practice of placing fragile novelty knick-knacks… →
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How an Old United Ad Gives Me Hope for the Church
A hard-bitten boss paces around a circle of workers in his sales force. “I got a phone call this morning from one of our oldest customers,” he says. “He fired us. After 20 years, he fired us. Said he didn’t know us anymore.” The scene is from a United Airlines commercial from almost 30 years… →
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What If We Can’t ‘Get Past’ Sex? A Review of Entangled
The following review was originally published on The Englewood Review of Books and is republished with permission. The author is Heartlands editor, Alex Joyner. What if questions of human sexuality are not something that the United Methodist Church (UMC), like other mainline Protestant denominations, have to settle and get past, but rather are the foundation on which the… →
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God is in the Countryside (and Country Churches)
Maybe it’s because I’m getting ready to do a workshop on storytelling this weekend, but I’ve been thinking about the parables of Jesus. The Nazarene had a way of incorporating the stuff of the world around him into his messages. Farmers and seeds, shepherds and sheep, tenants and landowners—these were things Jesus’ listeners knew about.… →
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Top 10 Posts of 2018 – Heartlands
A word of thanks and best wishes to all the friends of Heartlands who have supported this labor of love in 2018. We’ve grown this year with more views and visits. The top posts reveal a lot of interest (and probably anxiety) about where the United Methodist Church is headed in 2019. But look down… →
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The Long Longing
An Advent devotional I wrote for the Fleming Rutledge-oriented site Advent Begins in the Dark by the folks behind the Crackers & Grape Juice podcast… https://crackersandgrapejuice.com/the-long-longing/ →
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How to Hunker Down for Advent: A Review of Fleming Rutledge’s New Book
It’s Advent! In liturgically-oriented churches, tables and pulpits are draped in purple. (Or perhaps a dark shade of blue, which to my mind is a nefarious invention of the liturgical-industrial complex.) Four-candled wreaths tick off the Sundays before Christmas. In homes, Advent calendars adorn walls. And yet so much is missing. “I have never seen… →
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