By Laura Stephens-Reed I am so relieved that heading into Advent and Christmas 2021, the pandemic is in the rearview mirror. We can put aside the difficulty and the different look of last year’s holiday observances and go all out, with all of our people back in the pews! Record scratch. The reality is that … Continue reading
By Layne Rogerson My final visit of the day was with a family who recently started hospice services. At the conclusion of the visit the adult child walked me to the car and shared that several years ago she had attempted suicide when she was at a place in her life where she could see no hope. Now, she has confidence that with God she will always … Continue reading
By Lesley-Ann Hix Tommey Reflection based on Isaiah 40:1-5 During one Living Well meeting in November, one of our participants showed up on the Zoom call 30 minutes late, overly apologetic and completely flustered. Just 20 hours earlier, and with less than a day’s warning, she had been given notice that she was being transferred … Continue reading
By Holly Strother-Waller I watched Emma’s body come up out of the Jacuzzi-looking portable baptismal. The pandemic forced the church to get creative for our baptisms throughout the last year. Water splashed on to Worship center floor as she got out of the pool of water to get dried off. The water continued to ripple … Continue reading
Over the next weeks and months, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will be sharing reflections from our CBF field personnel serving around the world. These are stories of impact and outreach, Gospel-sharing and relationship building, long-term presence and abundant love. The following is a reflection from CBF field personnel Steve Clark, who serves among Karen refugees … Continue reading
By Kristan Pitts Advent is a season of paradox. It’s a season where we hold in tension the celebration of the birth of Christ and the anticipation of Christ’s second coming. 2020 has been an exercise of what it means to exist in tension. We have experienced a pandemic, increased visibility of structural injustice, polarizing political … Continue reading
By Paul Baxley This past Sunday we began the Season of Advent. So much was different this year. Because of the surging coronavirus pandemic, we did not begin Advent with large congregations in sanctuaries. Many more worshipped online than in person. We could not sing the carols of Advent with the same energy, instead the … Continue reading
By Michelle Carroll Wednesday started strangely. Before I even got to my church office, our Senior Pastor was calling to tell me that we’d just learned the Attorney General’s announcement of the Breonna Taylor investigation results had been moved from Louisville to the Kentucky Historical Society, which is about two blocks from the church. “Oh, … Continue reading
By Andy Hale I’m not a fan of the Little League World Series. That might be a very unpopular statement. I’m not a fan of it in the same way that I’m not a fan of the Australian Open, the US Open, or Wimbledon. When it transpires each year, it means that every single hour … Continue reading
By Ron Hinson A novel coronavirus emergence is an outcome of life cycles of ever-present change within the biological ecosystems of our earth. Prevention or response to such events can be marked by the false assumptions that we can sustainably “control” biology when, in truth, each new event marks a new scenario that we may … Continue reading
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