“Enough of All The “God Hate Talk!”
There is a basic difference between humbly seeking, serving and following God and self-righteously playing God! Many religious people appear to be the latter, where they use their religion to punish, condemn, ostracize and ultimately destroy others for being different or having views divergent from their own. When the so-called heretics do not live up […]
“This Christmas!”
This Christmas! ‘Our prayers and love go out for people everywhere for joy, peace, healing and justice that is just especially for those who are lonely, hungry, wounded and afraid. My mind and thoughts go out to people everywhere who have been the victims of war and violence for we often forget the casualties and […]
“Still Marching and Working for Justice.”
The march for justice today in Washington D.C. led by the Reverend Al Sharpton and other leaders from across the nation will once again call attention to the recent rash of deaths of black men and boys by police and the failure of the legal system to hold them accountable for their actions. These and […]
Compromise is Not a Dirty Word.
I don’t know if it is the calm before the storms, but I hope that Mitch McConnell’s almost monastic a-plomb, and the Gregorian “chant-cantational” tone of his post-election acceptance speech does not mask more fiercely uncompromising opposition that may come from Republicans now that they have the majority seats in both Houses of Congress. Contrast this, […]
Too Many Tears!
The tears keep coming; the tears of mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers, boyfriends and girlfriends and other friends which have no end. We see it too often. The grim, solemn processions of everyday people filing past the caskets of their beloved children gunned down in broad daylight on […]
“Turning the Other Cheek and Nonviolence: King, Gandhi and Jesus’ Third Way”
Delivered at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, Michigan, Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 20, 2014 Carlyle Fielding Stewart, III We gather today to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr, one of America’s most beloved freedom fighters – whose concern for social justice led him into a variety of […]
A MESSAGE WITHIN A MESSAGE – “Doing Democracy”
“You don’t speak about democracy, you ‘do’ democracy.” Joaquim Chissano, Former President Mozambique Let me say from the outset that, as a rule, I stay away from offering opinions and judgments about international […]
Three “Wise Guys” from the East.
Delivered on the Lord’s Day, December 23, 2012 Matthew 2:1-12 Carlyle Fielding Stewart, III The story of Jesus birth is such a happy and splendid occasion filled by a backdrop of stars in the sky at night, shepherds tending their flocks and a whole host of other dazzling images, that we often forget how dangerous […]
Death by “Pistolence” in America.
The recent slayings of innocent school children and their teachers and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut by a lone gunman has rekindled the debate on gun violence in our country. America is a nation steeped in a culture of violence and we see its heartbreaking results from the turbulent streets of Chicago and other cities to the placid, idyllic suburbs of Connecticut, […]
“We Honor Our Soldiers.”
We pause this Memorial Day weekend to honor our soldiers. In the words of Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield of Gettysburg, “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” We honor our soldiers because of their commitment to God and country; their willingness to defend our liberties and protect those ideals we hold noble and dear in our cherished democracy. Too often we […]