by Elsa A. Peters Editor’s Note: The Young Clergy Women Project offers this review in celebration of first publication of our book series with Chalice Press. We look forward to gifts and insights that our publish young clergy women will bring. Ashley-Anne Master and Stacy Smith’s Bless Her Heart: Life as a Young Clergy Woman [...]
Pastor and Preacher as Artist
by Jes Kast-Keat “Becoming an artist consists of learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal, and in following your own voice, which makes your work distinctive” -Art & Fear: Observations on The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles & Ted Orland To be an artist one must be true to the [...]
Unrecognized and Invisible: A Sermon for Mother’s Day
by Jessica Wright Scripture text: Luke 24:13-35 (NRSV) It’s an interesting opportunity to preach today. Around the worship planning table, Matt (the senior pastor) suggested this date to me so that the new mom might lead on Mother’s Day. Since then, I’ve been wrestling with where to go with it. I struggle with Mother’s Day. [...]
Exploring the Narrative Lectionary
by Julia Seymour Many pastors and congregations use the comparatively slower summer to plan the upcoming programmatic year. I've been slowly introducing the idea of the using Narrative Lectionary (NL) to my congregation. The NL, an initiative being put together by several professors at Luther Seminary and some pastors in the Minnesota ELCA synod, is a fairly [...]
“Help Thou Our Unbelief”
by Megan DeWald Kline “Pray for us,” my mom says whenever we speak. “God listens to you. He doesn’t listen to me anymore.” This all started one Monday morning in June 2008 when I received a phone call from my dad. He asked—in his stern, concerned voice—if I was home, and I said I was. [...]
Single Rev…and a baby?
by Leah Grundset According to a 2009 article in US News and World Report, the number of unmarried women having babies has risen sharply in the United States according to U.S. Health Officials. This statistic is interesting on the whole because it both represents women in relationships who are not married and women who choose [...]
To and From
by Katherine Willis Pershey It’s been exactly a year since my family and I packed up the parsonage, dropped the car off at the freight yard, and departed from the Long Beach Airport at the height of jacaranda season. We had tickets for a one-way flight to Chicago (one made quite memorable by my scrambling [...]
“Punishment Comes One Way Or Another”: A Review of True Grit
by Christine M. Hinton Editor's Note: This review contains spoilers. Lots of 'em. Don't read this if you don't want to know how this movie ends. However, if you've seen it and you're looking for a good movie to reflect on theologically and to maybe share with your congregation, read on… "True Grit": Directed and [...]
Vanity of Vanities?
by Elsa Peters Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. I rarely find comfort in the King James Version and with this verse it is no different. Instead, these words poke at me like a preacher wagging his finger over the pulpit. I know his words are directed at me. I know that they poke at [...]