Dear Caldwell, Yesterday in worship, we thought and prayed about how we understand and live into our Christian identity. How do we preserve the distinct blessings of our differences and, at the same time, move toward unity amid diversity? How do we live out what it means to be “in Christ” across all of our …
Oct. 26, 2016 Dear Caldwell, There is, perhaps, no time when we as a nation and as a people feel more divided than in the final weeks before a presidential election. In the context of history, this isn’t really a new phenomenon. Our nation has been bitterly divided before. Yet, it all seems so raw, so real, …
Dear Caldwell, Hospitality played a vital role in the stories of the Bible – how people received guests and how guests accepted hospitality served as a sign of the covenant of faith. Tomorrow (Wednesday, 10-19) night, we have the blessing of receiving the hospitality of our sister congregation, St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church. They have invited …
Dear Caldwell, I am reminded today of that well-known passage in Ecclesiastes that says “there is a time to reap and a time to sew, a time to mourn and a time to dance” and so on. In our life together at Caldwell, we are in the midst of a time to LEAP. We practice a Faith of Leap …
Dear Caldwell, Thanks to all who helped make worship-on-the-move possible yesterday. I hope and pray it gave each one of you a moment, and perhaps a new perspective, on how you can dedicate your pledge of time and talent (and treasure) through Caldwell in 2017. Remember Commitment Sunday, when we consecrate our pledges forward, is Oct. 16. As …
Dear Caldwell, Coming Together, Staying Together As we move from Sunday to Sunday this week, we continue to seek to live constructively in the tension we feel around us. My sense is that the city has shifted somewhat from immediate protest and digestion of the case of Keith Scott to planning for healing and solutions to the justifiable …
Dear Caldwell, “My feet is tired, but my soul is rested.” Those words from Mother Pollard, who participated in the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott by walking to work every day at age 72, inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he led the civil rights movement. This morning, I know a little about how Mother …
Dear Caldwell, Rev. Dr. William Barber is one of the most powerful and eloquent prophets of our time. This afternoon, he put it squarely at a press conference about this week’s tragic events in Charlotte. “This didn’t start Tuesday,” he told the national media. His point was that the root causes of this week’s unrest were dug …
Dear Caldwell, Once again, our hearts are broken, as we weep with the family of Keith Lamont Scott and pray for our city. Once again, we wonder, even desperately, what we can do to be part of a helpful, healing response that does not diminish the real anger we witness and feel. Today, I have …
Dear Mayor Roberts, Just a note of thanks for the work of the city water crew who came out to repair a burst pipe under the street next to Caldwell. We had guests coming, you see, so we were in a jam. We’re having some new friends for dinner Thursday at 6, members of St. Luke Missionary …
