Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community
Tensions were high and hope was scarce during the summer of 2020. Protests were ongoing nationally, triggered by the senseless killing of unarmed African Americans—George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn. and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky. However, on June 5, 2020, I was awakened by special news coverage of a mural commissioned by Mayor Muriel Bowser…
Just try to hide when you visit “Mother Emanuel” African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. They welcome you from the pulpit and ask you to stand. They hand you a microphone so you can give your name and your hometown. Then everyone sings Emanuel’s own welcome song, “Mother Emanuel Welcomes You.” As the song puts it,…
I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to do as a white pastor of an almost entirely white congregation: invite an African-American preacher to preach on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. An assistant professor of black church studies at a nearby seminary had been worshiping with us lately, so I called her…