Welcome to The Light, your quiet hour of reflection.
Within the Southern Baptist Convention, a question of identity is being pressed into constitutional form. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is proposing an amendment that would formally enshrine the denomination's ban on female pastors, moving what has been policy into the deeper architecture of belonging itself.
From a very different kind of threshold, a retired Marine general now serving in Congress is asking his colleagues to look honestly at suffering. Representative Jack Bergman of Michigan, the highest-ranking combat veteran to serve in the House, joined a Capitol Hill gathering this week to examine the healing potential of psychedelic medicines for those carrying the invisible wounds of war.
And in Belarus, more than thirty thousand people gathered in what is being called the largest evangelical gathering in that nation's history. Franklin Graham stood before that crowd and spoke of spiritual rebirth, a phrase that carries enormous weight in a country where public faith has long navigated the shadow of authoritarian watch.
Three stories, each asking in its own way what it means to belong, to heal, to awaken. That is this hour's reflection. Carry the light gently.
