In Black culture, there is a saying: call the roll. If you grew up anywhere near a Black church, you know what that means. It is the moment when the preacher begins to cook. And yes, that is sacred language. It is when she is no longer just delivering notes but standing inside memory. When the Holy Ghost shifts her posture, deepens her cadence, stretches her vowels, and lifts her voice into that space where testimony and theology collide. It is when she begins naming the elders. The mothers. The freedom fighters. The saints who prayed us through. The teachers who would not let us quit. The ones who buried children and still sang. The ones who marched and still forgave. The ones who organized and still believed. By the third or fourth name, someone in the pew feels the rhythm and hollers back, Call the roll, Pastor! Because they know this is not nostalgia. This is survival.
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Chocolate melts, roses wilt, heart decorations come down. Even as a child, I sensed that love refuses to stay simple, neat, or predictable. Valentine’s Day passed quickly, but the questions it raised about love lingered much longer. I learned early that love could be layered and complicated, especially when it did not match what was considered ideal. In sixth-grade religion class, that understanding collided with something much harder to name.
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Terror rushed through my veins. Lights flashed as a red-haired, clown-faced someone poked their head through a dark curtain. I
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The decades of occupation of Palestinian land by the Israeli government and the current genocide of Palestinians is something no one can ignore, especially people of faith. Our faith moves us to call out the injustices of our world, the killing of thousands of people, and governments that take advantage
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In June, we moved to San Diego, and I stepped away from being a pastor. I’ve still built connections with clergy, and a recent meeting with one pastor stuck out. We talked about following up, and he said, “Reach back out in January.” It was December 1. Caught off guard
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For 31 consecutive weeks, Israelis have taken to the streets, mostly in Tel Aviv, to protest the decision by the current right-wing government of Israel to initiate an overhaul of its judicial system. Israel’s “Unreasonableness Law” is a measure that removes the courts’ power to overturn decisions made by Israel’s
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