The call from a close friend came out of the blue last month. “Bishop, I’ve got some bad news. Billy has died.” Stunned, it took a moment to register. On this, the week we celebrate All Saints Day (Nov.1), I pause to recognize a theological giant ...
Bishop John K. Yambasu, the Resident Bishop of the Sierra Leone, shown above preaching at the 2016 General Conference of The United Methodist Church. Earlier today, we learned of the tragic death of Bishop John Yambasu, the Resident Bishop of the ...
Please see Bishop Lowry's video message for Holy Week at the end of this blog post. “As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the ...
The fire rages. The steeple consumed in a reddish-orange blaze topples. Unrehearsed, a collective gasp erupts from the watching crowd. A great symbol of the Christian faith, Notre Dame Cathedral is gutted. On Easter morning itself, seven ...
It is sign and symbol. It towers over the religious landscape of our day even in a post-Christendom world. It remains both an offense and a glory. The cross of Christ looms before us on Good Friday. Before we arrive at Easter, we must first stop ...
As I write it is Monday, April 10, 2017. Yesterday, I worshipped on Palm Sunday with my wife. The children paraded through the sanctuary waving their palm branches. It was glorious; a joyous expression of the faith! I was sitting on the aisle and as ...
I sit at my keyboard and launch this blog on "Celebrations and a Loss Observed" mindful that today is Valentine’s Day. While flowers, candy and cards abound, I invite us to pause and remember the original Valentine. He was a Christian martyr and ...
“They went to the tomb” (Matthew 28:1). How simply the Easter story opens in Matthew’s gospel. A tomb-ward journey is one we have all taken all too often. I can remember full well such a journey in my life as a pastor in Austin, Texas. He was young; ...
This week we are walking the way of the cross. Across the globe Christians traverse the week we call holy in a spiritual and powerfully symbolic journey from the celebration of Palm Sunday to the cross of Good Friday. It is both tempting and easy to ...