How can we have peace in the Middle East When there’s none at home? These are the opening lines to one of my favorite songs by jazz vocalist Rachelle Ferrell. The capstone to her self-titled 1992 album, “Peace on Earth,” speaks before and beyond the time of its recording. I first began using this song in faith…
“Life is robbery.” I re-read this Alfred North Whitehead quotation to my students in the last weeks as we read through Adventures of Ideas. We were taking a welcome break from the philosophically demanding Process and Reality. I explained that this is one of Whitehead’s more frequently cited sentences because he succinctly and poetically describes…
Since the Civil Rights era, many communities with which I affiliate have been “looking for the next King.” In some ways, this sentiment is a direct reference to the legendary leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., recently commemorated in the memorial on the National Mall. It’s also a reference to a desire for singular charismatic leadership…
I love teaching in theological education because I loved being a student. When I was in college, I was an active lay Christian. I didn’t major in religion and had no plans to be a minister or professor of religion. But I had some questions that weren’t answered in church or Christian campus organizations, so…
A couple of years into my career as a minister, I learned a short phrase about the sounds of church from another minister. There’s an awkward space of time at the beginning of a sermon when the preacher indicates the biblical passage from which the sermon will draw and the time it takes for people…
Writer and mental health advocate Therese Borchard interviewed me and it made it to the Huffington Post. Check it out. According to Raymond DePaulo, Jr. M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, African-American populations do not have higher rates of depression in the U.S. However, the statistics may be skewed because…
When I was a teenager, I liked a boy who attempted suicide. I remember calling his home on an ordinary day. His mother answered the phone and told me a harrowing story of how she came home, and found his tall lanky body in the bathtub with blood spilling into the water and onto the…
I wanted to be pregnant if only for the possibility of helpful hormones. “Pregnancy is great for some women with depression,” my psychiatrist says. “The hormones can help.” I think of my women friends with depression who tell me that pregnancy nearly killed them. That depression was only alleviated by taking their meds, and hoping…
I grew up in a state of unionized workers. My mother was in a teachers’ union. My father worked for one of the “Big Three” automakers and UAW is an acronym every Michigander knows. Every year, there were talks of negotiations and talks of strikes. The only thing worse than buying “a foreign car” is…
My parents called it “talking back.” Some people call it “sassing.” It’s that willful behavior that children have when they just have to respond to what they’ve been told—sometimes with attitude, snarky upturn of lip or obvious petulance. The admonition not to “talk back” is a few steps from the adage, “children should be seen and not…
Dr. Monica A. Coleman is an award-winning scholar, writer, and minister dedicated to the intersections of faith, social justice, and transformation. Through speaking, consulting, and writing, she empowers individuals and organizations to navigate change with purpose and integrity.
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