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Leaving Salem

I grew up with a lot of religious rules. To violate these rules was to subject oneself to the violence of God. You may be familiar with these rules. No drinking, no smoking, no dancing, no mixed-bathing (a prospect that always intrigued my teenage mind), no Sabbath-breaking (though we did not actually gather on the…

Churches are peculiar places. I have had the opportunity to serve a few of them. Some of my pastoral experiences have been awesome and rewarding – baptisms, weddings, the transformation of individuals and families. Some other experiences have been about as much fun as a sharp stick in the eye. And the churches which I…

“Be sure your sins will find you out.” That’s what the Good Book says. My mama said it a lot too. In fact, my mother once arranged for the public display of this proverb. I’m just glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of her righteous indignation. It was during a time in my childhood…

Today is World Communion Sunday. It is an annual event in which Christians worldwide celebrate our oneness in Christ, in spite of our many differences and traditions. We pause to pray for unity and peace, and we recommit ourselves to such efforts as we gather together around the Lord’s Table – the Eucharist, the Lord’s…

It was a winter day as I waited beneath the funeral canopy. Still, drops of perspiration collected in the small of my back as my dark suit and nerves conspired to suffocate me in spite of the cold weather. Funerals, neckties, and mourners always raise my temperature. It’s probably due to the fact that as…

Dr. Robert Cade and Dr. Dana Shires of the University of Florida are responsible for the one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century. It’s not the computer chip, the television set, or the internet, but it was and is a technological breakthrough. In 1965 the coaching staff of the University of Florida came…

There I sat, stranded in a continuing education conference for a week. The lectures made me sleepy. The content bored me to tears. The schedule, unrelenting, did not allow for more than fifteen minutes of freedom at a time. Oh, it was a long week. Even if the material and presenters had been more dynamic…

Roger Williams arrived in Massachusetts almost four centuries ago, just a decade after the first Pilgrims disembarked from the Mayflower. He joined that Puritan effort to build a “city on a hill,” to prove to the nations of the world how God’s people should live. How did things go for Roger? Not so good. He…

The following is an except from The Jesus Tribe, by Ronnie McBrayer, available today from Smyth and Helwys Publishers. When that little group of Separatists left England for the New World in a little boat called the Mayflower, they landed at Plymouth Rock in a territory that would eventually become known as the Massachusetts Bay…

The following is an except from The Jesus Tribe, by Ronnie McBrayer, available today from Smyth and Helwys Publishers. There is an ancient story from the Cherokee Nation that was used to illustrate the danger of getting too close to something dangerous. I first heard it as a child, though variations of the tale are…
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