James Derkits

When I think back across my life, both to the big decisions, and the day by day choices, it is often the seemingly difficult path that is the best one. Those decisions are difficult mainly because they are uncomfortable, or make others uncomfortable in the short term. I disappointed one of my best High School friends by choosing to attend the college that really seemed like the best fit for me. He and I had talked about going to one college together and dreamed of what might happen with our band at the time. Then the day came when I had to make the decision and let go of that dream myself. I know I upset his expectations as I had that uncomfortable conversation about my decision. He and I are both relatively successful in the paths life has taken us down, and I for one am so thankful to have found my way to the college where I met my wife, Laura, and got to know the church in this part of the state.  Years later, when I left a comfortable life in Houston, again, I had to weigh what...

The first Sunday of this month, Black History month, our congregation belted out that beautiful hymn Lift Every Voice and Sing, which remembers God's faith for us even through the most difficult and oppressive years of our struggle to live as members of God's kingdom. In that hymn as in many of the psalms, we remember together, that God calls us to lift every voice, not just voices of the currently powerful and privileged, not just the voices of the downtrodden and suffering, but all of us together are called to lift our voices as if we are one human family, because we are.  In God's kingdom, we celebrate a vast diversity of saints from our history. We remember those who have stood out, often because their loving care for those in need in their generations. People such as The Rev. Absalom Jones, the first black priest in the Episcopal Church (our little corner of God's kingdom), and Dr. Artemisia Bowden, who in 1902, formed a school for African Americans in San Antonio,...