Everything That Rises

In his book Fasting , in The Ancient Practices Series , Scot McKnight defines fasting as “a person’s whole-body, natural response to life’s sacred moments.” I like that definition, yet in a religious culture of potlucks, ice cream socials, and “dinners on the grounds,” it’s sometimes difficult to explain the point of fasting. Fasting is a practice in Christianity that traces its roots through ancient Judaism. David fasted; the prophet Isaiah fasted; Jesus himself fasted. Therefore, fasting isn’t something to be overlooked or deemed obsolete by contemporary Christians. The point of fasting is not found in some notion that it makes one holier than others, nor is it correct to understand fasting as some sort of religious ritual that brings one closer to God simply through its undertaking. Perhaps it helps to think of fasting as a removal of distractions. When one fasts, it’s not simply about abstaining from food; it’s about removing those things that distracts one from listening to ...

In 1963, after delivering a speech to the student body at Western Michigan University, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sat with WMU president, Dr. James W. Miller, for a question-and-answer session. It was in response to one of the questions from Dr. Miller that Dr. King said these words: "At eleven o'clock on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. This is tragic. Nobody of honesty can overlook this." Just two years later, Dr. Clarence Jordan and an interracial group from Koinonia Farms were thrown out of a meeting in a "white" Southern Baptist church in Americus, Georgia. As they were leaving the church, Jordan was heard to say, "Well, everything in Americus is integrated now except the churches and the jails...And I have hope for the jails." Things seem to have come a long way in almost fifty years. This summer at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in New Orleans th...

It's a question I've been asking myself a lot lately. I've been teaching our folks on Wednesday nights what it means to be a Baptist, and it's not that I disagree with what it is to be a Baptist--far from it. I suppose what I'm struggling with is what being a Baptist actually looks like. Perhaps it would help to explain how I came to be a Baptist before I dive into my own conflict with the branding placed on my faith in Christ. --- I wasn't raised Baptist; to be fair, I wasn't raised anything. Sure, I grew up in the Bible Belt, and in the earliest years (ages 0-3, 1984-1987) of my life my dad's family all went to church together at a rural, Southern Baptist Church, but there isn't a single, full memory I have of ever going to church with my family. In fact, I didn't really begin regularly attending church until the summer after I graduated high school, a time when I was in desperate need of direction and community. I attended a Baptist church ...

Here's a link to my recent contribution to the "Religion Roundtable" for the Anniston Star : click here . I'm asked to contribute (along with the local Imam) about once every 4-5 weeks.

Doors. Have you ever given any thought to how many doors you walk through in a given day? It’s likely you walked through several doors inside your home this morning, only to walk out the door to get into your car or on the bus (through a door). I counted the other day, and, not including cabinets, we have thirteen doors in our home (and our house isn’t very big): thirteen doors, three of which are exterior doors.             Have you ever given any thought to what a door actually does? I suppose we’re so used to them being there, so used to them opening at the turn of a key and the twist of a knob, but doors are actually quite vital to our current, comfortable way of life. You see, doors keep things out, things we don’t want inside with us. Imagine if your home didn’t have a door—just an opening; you’d likely wake up in the morning with squirrels in the pantry, mosquitoes swarming the bathroom, and neighborhood dogs digging thro...

Recently, I was asked to contribute to a weekly feature in a local newspaper. Below is my response to the question: "What religious figure most inspires you?" Aside from the obvious influence of Jesus Christ and all the well-known heroes and heroines of Christian history, I would say that the religious figure who most inspires me is Clarence Jordan. Jordan held a Ph.D. in biblical languages (which he used in translating The Cotton Patch Version of the New Testament ), yet he spent most of his life on a farm in Americus, Georgia, a community he and his wife started with another couple in 1942. The name of their new community was Koinonia , a Greek word meaning “fellowship” used in the New Testament to describe the gathering of believers. Koinonia was (and still is) a place where people of all races were welcome to live in a community grounded in the love of Christ. It began during a time when racism was considered a virtue by many in the South. Jordan understood the g...

From www.reverendfun.com