By LORETTA FULTON Libby Rankin didn’t know it, but she waited almost a year for an award she should have received on March 26, 2020. That was the date of the annual Hardin-Simmons University Round Table Scholarship Luncheon when the winner of the Woman of Virtue Award and the recipient of the scholarship are announced. But COVID-19 intervened in March
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON Holidays when I attended elementary school in 1950’s Plano always brought a festive time. The Halloween carnival had each classroom decorated differently with a different game inviting you to participate. At Christmas, we drew names and exchanged gifts with classmates. I remember Easter and an egg hunt at the Haggard farm. However, it was Valentine’s Day that
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS Conflict is a regular part of our lives. This is no different than in Jesus’ time. His teaching about loving our enemies presumes we have at least one. His teaching on turning the other cheek presumes we have already been struck on one side. And yet, one of the centerpieces of his beatitude list in Matthew chapter
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Editor’s Note: As a part of Black History Month, the Rev. Matthew M. Lubin Sr., pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church, comments on a recent survey by the Barna Group about the relationship between Black Americans and the Black church, both historically and currently. Click here to read the entire survey. By Rev. MATTHEW M. LUBIN SR. The Black Church in
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK As we approach the season of Lent, many people contemplate “giving up something” (sacrificing) to represent the sacrifice Christ made for his disciples. I don’t always participate in Lent, but I’ve thought about it more this year than usual—probably because of the tremendous hardship and involuntary sacrifice 2020 has inflicted on so much of humanity. My retirement
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Like many other organizations, the Abilene Interfaith Council has been meeting virtually since its programming year began in September. The latest program is a video interview with the Rev. Bikole Malunda and members of the Swahili language worship service that is held on Sunday afternoons at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest. The video includes some of the service,
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Jemar Tisby, president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, will be guest speaker for the 2021 Don Williams and Royce Money Distinguished Lecture Series at Abilene Christian University Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 10-11. The series, hosted by ACU’s Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action, will be presented in person and virtually. Both are free and open to
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By LORETTA FULTON In April 2020, local historian Jay Moore put together a self-guided tour of historic churches in Abilene, all but one of them serving predominantly Black congregations, as an answer to the question everyone had–What can we do during this COVID-19 shutdown? Unfortunately, almost a year later that’s still a good question. And Moore’s tour is still a
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS Perhaps we try to make this too complicated. God’s requests of us as His people are relatively few; the list may be challenging, but they are not mysterious. The dilemma for us is not that we do not know what God desires; we just do not want to behave that way. The hospital announcement requested a chaplain
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Spirit Of Abilene 