by Bromleigh McCleneghan A near-permanent fixture in the bathroom of my childhood homes was a book, usually a novel, laid on the counter, or the back of the toilet, with its spine flat, its pages splayed out, drying. My mother took a bath just about every night to help her relax, and just about every [...]
Veni, Vidi, Venti?
by Amy Summers-Minette Since becoming a minister, one of my Christmas traditions has been to drag my sister Beth with me on my hospital rounds. My sister is a trained opera singer whose voice makes people weep with both release and joy. When I first began in ministry I heard folks stuck in a hospital [...]
On Liking Books
by Ann Bonner-Stewart Over the years, The Ones We Love has offered a space to contemplate the many different people we as young clergy women love. We’ve read (and written!) about dogs and cats, parents and spouses, colleagues and neighbors. This month, this column won’t be about a person but about a thing—or, rather, things. [...]
Crafting Freedom Sunday
by Katie Yahns Don't you just love it when the things you write and create in the process of becoming ordained actually (perhaps to your surprise) have some practical use? As I wrote my approval papers in the first half of 2005, one of the sets of questions focused on the proper place of secular [...]
Finding Church
by Laura Mariko Cheifetz I grew up with two pastor parents, attending two to three services every Sunday for the better part of my childhood, and only getting to choose my church when I quit hanging out at the church my father served and went off to find my own. Now as an adult, serving [...]
Always on my Mind
by Name Withheld For the first time in my life, there’s no one. Since the first day of kindergarten, when I developed a crush on BZ (name withheld because I’ve never met anyone else with his last name) that lasted well into the 8th grade, there has always been someone that I have admired from [...]
Safety Pins and Masking Tape
by Stacey Midge Ten minutes to show time, and the pews are filled with guests. Soft, unobtrusive music flows from the organ pipes, muffling voices and the footfalls of last-minute arrivals. The groom and groomsmen, thankfully all present and accounted for, wait in the lounge for their cue. Parents smile and check for the tissues [...]
Poetry as Pastoral Resource: The Art of Losing
by Jenn Moland-Kovash At the local library you’re most likely to find me leafing through the new cookbooks or reading up on the latest techniques for the small farmer. (Please note: my local library is in the middle of the suburbs.) Not far from these forms of escapism rest the recently published books of poetry; [...]