Just about five years ago I gave a sermon in this church on the topic of race and my personal experience of learning what racial identity is all about. Recently Charles Nazarian asked me if I would like to give that sermon again with perhaps some new thoughts and...

The church had been a meeting place for leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and others seeking to end segregation and register African-Americans to vote in Birmingham. No American of conscience who remembers those days can forget the horrible poison of pure hate it...

"Just as long as I have breath I must answer Yes to life." Saying yes to life requires the ability to face our regrets and angers and then to let them go. Some people slog through their lives encumbered by old wounds, grudges, and regrets. They reach old age with a...

This talk was given on December 29, 2013 by Gordon Baird. Those words were written by me on a day when this church had thoroughly recharged my batteries.  I am grateful still.  What can I mean? Ever come to church in an agitated state of mind or in a bad mood or in a...