More on Hope

 More on Hope this morning. 

St. Paul said, “Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

What I take from this is that Hope is not simply optimism or a favorable forecast. It’s not that with which we begin. It’s what we end up with.

Hope is what’s left of us after a long, hard struggle. 

That means, if there’s even a feint glimmer of Hope in you, you know you’ve survived something.

On Hope

Yesterday we lit the candle of Hope, the first light of the Advent. Afterward, we shared in our Service of Comfort and Healing in the beautiful Fleming Chapel. 

In the intimate gathering with fellow strugglers, I tried to express the important point that the light of hope does not drive out the darkness. It accompanies the darkness. It warms the darkness. 

The darkness remains. The darkness belongs. The darkness is a companion with a spirit and a voice also. 

Fellow strugglers, in these days of diminished light, may we let the darkness speak and also be loved.

 In a powerful scene in one of the Gospels the disciples return jubilant from a tremendously successful campaign in which the demons surrendered and Jesus says he “saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lighting.”  Yet, Jesus told the disciples they should rejoice not in the surrender of the demonic, but rather in the fact that their “names are written in heaven.”

Not all campaigns are successful. Victory is never guaranteed. And, in fact, victory is not why we fight. We fight the good fight because there are good things worth fighting for, regardless of whether we win or we lose. 

Let’s hold onto ourselves today, beloved, and to the things that are both good and true on earth as they are in heaven. 

World Communion Sunday

 Tomorrow is World Communion Sunday and I’m remembering three courageous women — Bettye Poole and Ida Hannah, two blacks students at Mississippi’s Tougaloo College, and Julie Zaugg, a white student from Oberlin College who was studying at the Tougaloo — who together tried to integrate Capitol Street Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi on World Communion Sunday in October 1963. 

The women were denied entrance by the ushers. Women they then moved to try to pray together on the front steps of the church they were arrested on grounds of disturbance and private property trespassing. 

At the jail, Julie Zaugg was confronted by a police officer who pulled a church offering envelope from his pocket and told her, cynically, that if she really wanted to worship at Capitol Street she ought to be willing to send it some money. 

Zaugg looked down to see that on the envelope taken from the Capitol Street at the time of the arrests there was a picture of a communion table, displaying the elements of the Lord’s Supper, surrounded by — curiously, and apparently unnoticed by the police officer — several hands reaching for the wine. “The hands were of different colors: black, pink, and white.”

This, too, is the word of the Lord.

Forgive Us Our Debts

 Forgiveness of something important is always difficult and oftentimes morally complex. Certainly this is true for the forgiveness of monetary debt.

Who has the right to decide who can have their debts forgiven and how much are economic, moral, and also political questions. It is understandable that there is unease in today's announcement of large-scale forgiveness of student loans.

One Scripture I've seen going around is the story of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20). This is a story about unmerited financial gain. Yet it is also a story about unemployment. We might ask ourselves if its a story about grace or about justice? Or is it both?

One difference between this story and today's announcement is the fact that the vineyard owner had sole claim to his own land and money. What was forgiven today, on the other hand, was public money. And so in order for the story to track closer to what happened today, we'd have to have it that the laborers had some financial stake in not only the money that they received, but also in the money that was given away. This difference makes this parable not an altogether neat parallel for today's pronouncment.

Yet still, there is the inherently unjust, dehumanizing, and economically paralyzing conditions shared by both the workers in the parable and the debtors of today. And in both cases, there is a monetary remedy which in one way can be seen as grace (somebody getting something for nothing) or, alternatively, as justice (a community getting reset from exploitation). And there are the still-relevant-today words spoken by the land owner in the parable, "Is your eye evil because I am good?" And there is also the question, can anybody or system be good that holds so much power over others?

These are difficult questions without easy answers. Let us be generous with one another as we wrestle with them.

And a final point: I know where I believe Jesus would be tonight -- celebrating somewhere with his still-generationally poor friends the end to their $300 monthly payment which helped by rich kids in the classes behind them a lazy river and new indoor practice field in the arms race now ruling higher education.

With them he would celebrate, splurging maybe for a bottle of wine, some tapas, and praying over it all these words:

"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

This, and the even more morally complex idea he came preaching at the beginning of his ministry -- the year of absolute Jubilee.

Daily Lesson for June 30, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 23, selected verses:

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’ 12He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’
13 So Balak said to him, ‘Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.’
12He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.’ 26But Balaam answered Balak, ‘Did I not tell you, “Whatever the Lord says, that is what I must do”?’

Today Broadway member Aubin Petersen will receive the Barbara MacNair Award for Christian Witness at an Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists service in Dallas. I am grateful for Aubin and her spouse Mark and their strong advocacy for the welcome and affirmation of LGBTQ persons in our and other Baptist churches and society as a whole. The world is better and our church is better for their Christian witness.

We have discerned in the Spirit to bless and not curse the rainbow community of God.

We have discerned in the Spirit of Christ to welcome, affirm, and bless and not be silent.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 29, 2022

 This morning's Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 23 verses

1Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’ 2Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your burnt-offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.’ And he went to a bare height.

4 Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, ‘I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.’ 5The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you must say.’ 6So he returned to Balak,* who was standing beside his burnt-offerings with all the officials of Moab. 7Then Balaam* uttered his oracle, saying:
‘Balak has brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
“Come, curse Jacob for me;
Come, denounce Israel!”
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?"

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’ 12He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’

Balaam had learned his lesson from his donkey which we read about yesterday.

God put words put into its mouth and, stubborn as it was, it nonetheless spoke them.

Balaam learns from the beast of burden.

He will speak what God tells him to speak. He will not say what is expected. He will not say what Balak wants to hear. But Balaam will speak what God says to speak, and he will bless those others wish him to curse.

Thus sayeth the prophets also -- those who dare to say only what the Spirit speaks and not what the itching ears long to hear; those who dare to bless them who others would curse and revile.

So says the Spirit, also today.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 28, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 22:21-31:

21So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab.
22 God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back on to the road. 24Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. 26Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ 29Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’ 30But the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’

31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.

Paula D'Arcy says that God comes to us disguised as our lives.

Sometimes our life is a disagreeable ass.

I think that's a good time to listen to it.

When what we think should happen, where we think we should go, whom we are intent to be against, and what we are doing just keeps on kicking us against the wall like a stubborn donkey, then maybe life knows better.

Maybe the are of the universe knows better.

May the cosmos wants us to stop, consider, pray, and change course.

May God is coming to us as our life and its time that we open our eyes to see the angel with the sword.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 27, 2022

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 22 verses 9 through 12:

 9God came to Balaam and said, ‘Who are these men with you?’ 10Balaam said to God, ‘King Balak son of Zippor of Moab has sent me this message: 11“A people has come out of Egypt and has spread over the face of the earth; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.” ’ 12God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.’

I’m up early this morning looking at a new week; and the Scriptures say God is actively at work to thwart the plans of evil in this world. 

The Israelites were making their way out of Egypt and towards freedom in the Promised Land, but the forces of Midian and Moab would have stopped them. God, however, intervened; and an accomplice to the anti-freedom movement. 

Beloved, God is at work this week, weighing on the conscience in surprising places and people, convicting would-be accomplices, thwarting the plans of evil, and intervening on the side of Freedom and Liberty. 

Live with that good news this week. God is on the side of the people making their way to the Promised Land.  

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Daily Less for June 24, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Malachi chapter 3 verses 1-5:

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.* 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

5 Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. It is the day we remember his birth, which was said to be six months prior to that of Jesus'. So, yes, that means we are six months away from Christmas. (Cue the June Christmas shopping music.)

John came to purify the priesthood. He himself was in the lineage of the priesthood, but rejected it because of its scandal and corruption. He went out into the wilderness. Thousands followed him.

We live in a time when the priesthood of our own time and place has given way to scandal and corruption.

There are always the Elmer Gantry's, peddling fear and false-salvation for the mighty greenback denomination. But now we see also clergy from both the Catholic and Baptist traditions embroiled in massive conduct coverup. We see clergy taking part in the hostile takeovers of seminaries and universities. And we see some of the most conniving of clergy still giving lie to claims of a false election and a fake presidency.

Is it any wonder why 60,000 people leave the American church every week?

Is it any wonder why so many are so disaffected?

Is it any wonder why the church has such little authority and respect and moral voice?

We sold it for sex, and for money, and for vanity, and for secular glitz, and a joyride on Airforce One.

Two thousand years ago, John the Baptist came to purify religion. May the spirit of John the Baptist be born again today.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 23, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 5 verses 3-5:

And not only that, but we* also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us . . .

How do we hold our hope in times like these?

That is a question many have asked me, and I keep coming back to the answer in this verse.

We often think of hope as something we always have with us from the outset. But, in fact, St. Paul says that hope is the reward for resilience. Hope is what comes after the suffering and endurance that forge our character. Its in the crucible of character that hope is born.

So, in that sense, hope is not something we lose, but something we earn. It's found at the end of our rope. It's the gift that is given to those who hold on.

T.S. Eliot wrote, "I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope."

For those struggling and even suffering without hope today, I pray you will hold on and wait until it comes, even if it only appears at the very, very end . . .

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 22, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 through 9:

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage,* he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; 4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” 7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.* 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.*

There is an old saying that Jesus' parables were "earthly stories, with heavenly meanings".

Hardly!

This is an earthly story with an earthly meaning! It is a story about unemployment, just wage, and recompense. And how embarrassed I am that I once thought this story was one about going to heaven!

We see what we are taught to see. And we read a parable through the lenses of our own experience, biases, privilege, and predilection. This has mislead a lot of us to misread a whole lot of Jesus' very earthly stories.

In fact, it is a strategy of oppression to take Jesus' words and -- as somebody said -- make them so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good."

Archbishop Oscar Romero said, "Some things can only be seen through eyes which have wept."

Anybody who's ever wept over not being able to find a job that makes ends meet can see the real meaning of this parable from Jesus -- and all the rest also.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 21, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 19 verses 27 and 29-30:

27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ . . . 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,* and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

In recent years, I have heard lots of stories of families being split apart by so much of the political division in our country.

Fathers have lost sons and vice versa. Even when families are still on speaking terms, a great feeling of estrangement colors every encounter.

Jesus did not deny the estrangements in his own family and amongst those of his followers. They were real, and they were painful.

But Jesus did tell his followers to take consolation from what has been gained, the community they had found with one another.

Families are split. Friendships are lost. Long-time members feel they must move elsewhere. This is all very painful.

But there are also new friendships to be made, and new spiritual families to be formed. A church community we truly belong to can become a new home for us.

In fact, that is what we often say, that we want our church to be a person's or family's home.

These are tough times, friends. Find consolation where you can. Find your people. Embrace them. Take care of them. Let them take care of you.

Watch out for one another -- like family.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 20, 2022

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 89 verses 8 and 13-14:

8 Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? *

O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.

13 You have a mighty arm; *

strong is your hand and high is your right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *

love and truth go before your face.

The foundations of God’s throne are righteousness and justice, and love and truth go before God’s throne. 

Meanwhile down here in Texas, the state GOP is still falsely denying the legitimacy of the 2020 election, passing cruel judgments about LGBTQ persons, and calling for a referendum on secession from the United States of America.

Lord a’mighty, what has happened to the party of Lincoln and Douglass in Texas?

The foundations are rattled.  Righteousness, justice, love, and truth are all in peril. 

And as James Russell Lowell wrote in 1845 about the war that breach-birthed this state, half-slave and half-free:

“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,           

In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side . . .

Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,    

Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified.”

Let all people of goodwill stop fooling around with this foolish madness, and take their stand for the foundations of truth, righteousness, love, and justice for all. 

The date of the future is too precarious for us to pretend not to see all that is at stake. 

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Daily Lesson for June 3, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 through 20:

15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The writer of Ephesians is worried about how we are taking care of ourselves during hard times -- "evil days" as the writer calls them. The days are evil and the writer knows that people are struggling. The word is given to encourage, to resolve, and to keep from despair.

There is a concern about drinking. This is not a puritanical word. During evil days, it's easy to lose oneself in wine and margaritas. Warm and happy for a time, they can't gladden the heart like worship and community.

We need each other, the writer is saying, and we need to be together in solidarity. That is part of the reason why the pandemic was so hard on so many, and why so many started abusing alcohol during that time. It's easy to isolate and despair; and many die deaths of isolation and despair. That's part of what makes these days so dangerous.

The days are evil, so we have to be "wise" about the way we are living. We have to make good, and life-affirming, and life-giving choices. We have to invest ourselves in positive relationships.

The days are evil, let's call it that. But there is goodness to be found, and there is goodness to be done. So let us do what is commended and sing and give thanks in gratitude for the blessings which can be found "at all times" -- including even in days like these.

We need each other right now; and we need to watch out for one another too.

So let's be sure to take care.

Note: I'm headed to youth camp next week (pray for us!). So expect Daily Lessons to return June 13.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Prophetic Witness at the office of Senator John Cornyn

 My written prayer offered yesterday before Sen. Cornyn’s office in Dallas:

Prayer for Demonstration to end gun violence at the Office of Sen John Cornyn, June 1, 2022

Gracious God, Father and Mother of all children everywhere,

We come to you today in an hour of crisis, and grief, sorrow, and holy rage. Three hundred miles south of here, yet more parents are saying their final goodbyes to the bodies of their little ones who died by the bullets of a gun legally purchased in the United States of America.

God, have mercy on us.

We are enraged. And we are also frustrated. And we are tempted towards despair.

Yet we are here; present and determined, defiantly hopeful, concerned, committed, responsible, and demanding change.

We do demand change.

Too long have we kept silent. Too long have we sat passive. Too long have we accepted the status quo — and the lie that there is no will to turn the tide.

There is your will, dear God; and we believe in it. We believe that it is your will that not one more of these your children should die or be harmed under all the heavens; and in this we join our will to yours that salvation might come, at last, to this nation.

No more will our mouth be shut. No more will we sit passive. No more will we accept the inevitability of children’s coffins being built and buried in this hallowed earth. Life and death have been put before us; and today we choose life.

So we join together now with you, God, as brothers and sisters and beloved kindred in the holy family of humanity. And we pray together in one faith and of one accord, trusting and believing that the angels and archangels, and all the saints, and prophets, and prophetesses, and mothers, and grandmas, and abuellos, and abuellas, and ancestors of all tongues, and tribes, and colors and kinds pray with us. The shedding of innocent blood must end. The gun violence must be stopped. And the weapons of assault must be banned.

We do pray this of one accord. Together as your children, we pray it with one another. Together, as your children we pray that Senator John Cornyn would come and pray it with us.

Open our leaders’ eyes, dear Lord. Soften their hearts. Lay a mighty burden upon their conscience. It is time for change. It is time for laws. And it is time to act.

We need you, Lord. We ask for your help. We plea for the sake of children, and our children’s children. In the words of the old hymn:

“Save us from weak resignation

To the evils we deplore

And may the gift of Thy salvation

Be our [children’s] evermore”

We pray all these things together, in the name of the one who is life and wills life, now, and always, and everywhere — including America. Amen.

Daily Lesson for June 2, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 25 through 27:

25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil.

Beloved, have strength today. Speak your truth. And speak it in love.

As Bill Coffin used to say, "The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love."

It is a dangerous world and these are dangerous times. Prophetic truth must be spoken. We have to speak up at family gatherings, and backyard parties, barber and beauty shops, fraternity meetings, high school reunions, school board meetings, and at the office of Sen. John Cornyn.

We can be angry. Holy rage is a sacrament of our salvation.

But like any sacrament, it can be profaned. So, as the Lesson says today, we can be angry; but we must not sin in our anger.

The world is too small for anything but love. Anything other than love will be recorded, shared, and viewed a trillion times. So we've got to temper our emotions, and channel them positively. Love must flow through everything we say and do.

Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Don't let it fester. Don't let it kill you. Find a way to channel it. Find others to channel it with you. Plan, organize, write, vote, gather and do something beautiful.

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, too small for anything but love, and too holy for anything other than what is beautiful and kind.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 1, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 4 verses 2 through

2 On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4once the Lord has washed away . . . and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of burning. 5Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

In today's Lesson the Prophet imagines a great pillar stretching over the people of Israel, protecting them from all harm just as the pillars of fire and cloud protected the Israelites in the wilderness. He imagines a canopy, stretched over all the land. The bloodstains would be cleansed, and the people would be safe.

Beloved, we can still believe. We can still hope and dream and imagine and work towards a land where there is no harm, and all have a shelter and a refuge -- where the whole land itself is a shelter and refuge.

I know we're a long way off; but let us not give up the dream. A more beautiful America is still possible. And we have to be the ones to work for it.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

A Day for Remembering

 I am thinking today of all the Gold Star families I have had the honor to pastor and befriend.

I think of the woman who lost two brothers — one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. 

I think of the dear friend who lost his dad in the early days of Vietnam, and then a decade later went to fight there himself. 

I think of the photos and flags that have hung in so many homes where I’ve paid pastoral visits.

I think also of so many whose fathers, and brothers, and now sisters have also died by suicide after serving in combat theaters. 

Memorial Day is a day for remembering. Beloved ones, know may the LORD of all remembrance continue to bring you strength and peace. 

On the Cult of Death

 The NRA goes on with its meeting today, and that is because worship in any religion must always go on -- no matter what.

It is a religion, baptized in the blood of 21 more just Tuesday.

It is a death cult, sharing the same characteristics of any other death cult in any time, place, or culture:

1. The human-made invention of idols whose worship promises to deliver a people from death. All cults of death are based upon the anxiety and fear of death and the ability to control it.

2. The socio-religio-economic-political complex which profits off of the cult and assures the election of its Temple priests. This is why there is so much power in gun industry -- because a supermajority in the Senate can never get elected without its money.

3. The myth that the cult is synonymous with the nation and its god(s). To be a good worshiper is to be a good citizen. To refuse to worship is to be accused of refusing to be a good patriot and atheist.

This is the power of death at work in America.

Yet, I sense this week also the power of life.

I sense the power of Resurrection - a word which the ancients had which meant "uprising".

May there be an uprising against the idols of this nation; and may the power of resurrection life rebaptize an America which is dead in its sins under the powers of the cult of death death.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kissing Them Goodbye

 Last night we told our 9-year-old what happened to the children in Uvalde.

"You know, how you practice getting under the desks at school?" we said. "This is why you do that."

"Did they not practice getting under their desks at their school?" he asked.

And that is when the innocence was lost, the charade was over.

We want so badly to tell our children we adults will keep them safe. But last night, our nine-year-old exposed that for the lie it is.

I am a preacher. I've taught people to pray all my ministry. But we don't need anymore prayers now. We know what is necessary.

Sadly, however, we won't do what is necessary. We aren't ready yet. Not enough blood has been shed yet.

So, for now, we keep our children practicing hiding under tables and behind chairs. And as we drop them off at the curb we tell them we love them and keep kissing them goodbye.

It really would be better for this nation if a millstone were tied around our necks and we were thrown into the bottom of the sea.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for May 24, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 13 verses 18-23:

18 ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.* 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

Last night I was with a group from church working on issues of social justice in the community. We were talking about sustainability and how important it is to really dig down and root our efforts so it has the chance to be something significant, rather than just fleeting and/or performative.

It's easy to sprout up quick and be seen. But in the end, it's a lot more important to grow down deep than it is to grow up fast.

What we are doing today should not be judged by what is seen today. It's what's happening beneath the surface that matters most.

It's the underground where the real action is.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for May 20, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 9 through 12:

The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, 10and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, 12so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.

What a scripture for the times in which we are living.

There is indeed a profound refusal to love the truth and so be saved as a nation.

But God sends a powerful delusion? How could that be?

Augustine said something that is helpful here. Reflecting on the Scripture that says God hardened Pharaoh's heart, Augustine noted that the sun hardens clay, yet it melts wax. The same sun, but acting on very different properties.

The truth is a delusion to some, and delusion the truth; all determined by the hardness of the heart.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.  

Daily Lesson for May 19, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew 6 verse 34:

"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

Jesus did not say don't worry; he just said don't worry about tomorrow.

By that I think he meant we are to be concerned, but only over the things which are within our reach.

What will Russia do? Where will our kids go to college? How will the market do next year? Will inflation continue to rise?

These are questions and worries we can't do much about right now.

So, let's take a deep breath, recognize the things that are within our control, and focus our time and energy there.

We can only take on so much. Let's not borrow trouble, but let today's worries be enough for today.

They're plenty, in fact.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for May 18, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 through 21:

19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.'

We have to hold the things of this world loosely.

There are objects of beauty and status and some which really bring us a lot of happiness.

But we have to hold them loosely. We can't allow ourselves to treasure them too much. We can't become overly attached to them.

Moths eat out favorite coats. Rust corrodes old Corvettes. Jewelry gets lost or stolen. Something inside us wants to scream when these things happen.

But they will happen; so let us not hold on to any of these things too tightly.

They are things; and no "thing" lasts forever.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for May 17, 2022

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 6 verse 11:

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

In the book of Proverbs it says, “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with the food I need.”

I am praying for enough. 

Too much and we become arrogant and no longer live on faith. 

Too little and, of course, we can’t make the ends meet. That is the worry and the reason we have taught ourselves that it is okay to have more than we need.

The disciple of praying for one’s daily bread keeps things in balance. It also keeps us humble and trusting in the Lord and not in our own selves. 

Pray for daily bread today:

Bread for the table.

Bread for the pocket. 

Bread for the mind. 

Bread for the soul. 

Bread for our cities, schools, and governments. 

Bread for our churches. 

Bread for the journey. 

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 

The “Blood-dimmed Tide”; Monday After Buffalo

 There will be more.  

Ten beautiful souls were murdered by the hatred of White Supremacy and the demon-possessed soldier it sent Saturday to Buffalo.

Ten people were killed, and three others were injured; eleven of the victims were African American. A whole community and race were re-terrorized and re-traumatized.  The terrorist’s life is now in a sense taken also. 

“Replacement theory” is the new recruiter. It was exactly the propaganda tool Pharaoh used to stir up the nativist attitudes against the Israelites in Egypt. 

Meanwhile in America, we are outlawing — not “replacement theory” hate speech, but CRT. 

And the guns just keep on getting manufactured, sold, modified, and used. 

This is America. 

It will get worse.  It will get much worse. The “blood-dimmed tide” will be loosed; and not all Black people will be content to be drowned — nor should they be. 

It is time that we wake up. It is time that responsible White people put a stop to this madness. 

If the wind keeps being sown on all the channels and in all the speeches; then we shall all one day reap the whirlwind. 

It will get worse.  More will die. We must understand this and act. 

Solidarity must overcome polarity, love must disarm hate, and harmony, belovedness, togetherness, and peace must prevail. 

It’s up to us, kindred. We can put a stop to this madness. 

Daily Lesson for May 13, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 5 verses 33 through 37:

33 ‘Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.” 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

The great Czech poet and dissident turned statesman Vaclev Havel said, "The only way to resist tyranny is to live the truth."

Truth telling is supposed to be one of the hallmarks of the Christian community. It's so very sad then that so many have come to accept untruth and outright lies as a matter of course. Jesus said, this comes from the evil one.

We resist with truth telling. Truth telling on on our taxes. Truth telling in our promises. Truth telling in our pledges. Truth telling in the smallest and most mundane things we can imagine like what time we'll be home from work in order to throw the football with the children. Truth telling in the news we consume. Truth telling in our work. Truth telling in our reports. The expectation of truth telling from our institutions and public servants.

I've written before about interning for a congressman from my own district many years ago, and being instructed on the first day that if anyone ever called to ask to speak to the congressman I was supposed to tell them he was on the House Floor voting.

If you'll lie about something as small as that then you'll lie about anything. And if you can get away with lying about anything then you'll lie about everything.

The only way to resist this is by living the truth.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for May 12, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 through 23:

21 ‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult* a brother or sister,* you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell* of fire. 23So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister* has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister,* and then come and offer your gift.

Anger can rob us of all joy. It can warp our sense of balance. And it can rob us of all our grace.

Yes, there are things to get angry about. Jesus got angry. You bet. But BEING angry is no place to be.

We have to search ourselves. We have to find and name the places of anger and resentment which trip us up, hold us back, and can really in the long run disable opportunities for reconciliation and connection, and can also have us doing all kinds of little passive aggressive things that freshman in high school psychology class could tell you just ain't right, much less healthy.

When Jesus said for us to leave our gift at the altar and first go and be reconciled with our brother, he was bringing to mind the story of Cain and Abel and the gift Cain gave that was rejected by God, perhaps because Cain was so angry and bitter inside.

Anger's desire is to consume yes. We have to control it.

St. Paul said, "Do not sin in your anger."

We all have anger inside us. Sometimes this is a good thing. It is a natural reaction to the unfairness and injustice of life. I wouldn't take that kind of anger away from anyone.

But the anger cannot consume us. We have to master it. We have to use it. But we cannot be overcome by it.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for May 11, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew 5 verses 17 through 20:

17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Love is the fulfillment of the law.

Justice is love in action.

The beloved community is a community of love and justice.

When I was in high school I was taught that Christianity was "all about a personal relationship with Christ".

Christianity is not "ALL" about our personal relationship with God and Christ. That, I have learned, is a mark of a White supremacist theology that worked to privatize faith (and schools) so that the demands of our more communal obligations to one another were no longer necessary in order for us to be good followers of Jesus.

It was "all about the relationship with Christ."

We can't have a relationship with Christ outside our relationship with others.

And Christ told us where we would find him -- amongst the poor, hungry, naked, and imprisoned.

If we want a personal relationship with Christ, we know where to find him.

We also know how to help and stand in solidarity with him.

Jim Wallis says our faith is "always personal, but never private."

And that's because we can't love God without also loving, and caring for, and seeking justice with someone with skin on.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.