The Rumors Are True

Hello team.

This is something of a hodge-podge of items I wish to set down on our internet.

First things first, I’m venturing out again. This time, it’s Cincinnati and Lexington.

I’ll drop in at Household Books in Cincinnati on Friday, June 14th at 7pm. I’ll have books to sign and sell. My dear friend across two centuries, Ric Hordinski, will share a couple of songs and likely put some questions to me. It will be, I suspect, wonderful. Needless to say, it’s free.

I’m also set to appear at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington on Thursday, July 25th at 7pm. It’s a sacred space I’ll likely always associate with my memories of Davis-Kidd.

Also…

That’s my Faculty Award for Christian Scholarship. I generally avoid mention of my employer on the internet to avoid trouble, but I’m exceedingly grateful to the learning community housed there and those in administration who decided to honor and vouch for me in this way. I feel seen and supported and claimed and grateful.

Over this almost passed week, I’ve been grieving and processing the loss of my teacher, the prophetic practitioner, Reverend James Lawson. I’ll have more to say in a few days. But I want to try to move the needle on press coverage a little by noting in the presence of all hearers that he always cautioned against referring to the "Civil Rights Movement," as if it named an era and effort that reached a conclusion. It did not. He joined Congressman John Lewis in speaking of manifestations of beloved community in these United States across the centuries in this way: the nonviolent movement of America.

When Reverend Lawson eulogized Will Campbell in Mount Juliet, the program included a poem called “Meaning” by Czeslaw Milosz. When Reverend Lawson eulogized Congressman Lewis in front of presidents, he read it out loud.

I only recently discovered I can film myself doing and saying things and share them on my Substack, so…here goes.

Thanks for listening to me, everyone.

Editor’s note: The image of me next to the sign was captured by the photographer Eric England.