Editor's Note: At the recent annual board meeting of the Editorial Board, our editors decided that we would no longer publish the column Christ & Creativity in order to make way for a new column featuring the voices of young women along the way to ordination. Until the advent of this new column, we will [...]
Filling My Emptiness
by Ashley Nolte I thought I was indestructible. In 2009 I had easily managed to graduate from seminary, have a baby, begin my ministry as a solo pastor in rural Wisconsin, and buy a house. Everything went as smoothly as it could, the transitions were managed well and I was able to balance my roles [...]
Preach it! or maybe not…
by Stephanie Allen I had never been able to talk about the events of September 11, 2001 in a sermon, and whenever I heard anyone else do so, I would inwardly cringe. My mind would wander, my ears shut down. I might even try on a little righteous indignation: how dare the preacher use such [...]
BEautiful!
by Rebecca Craver If beauty is in the eye of the beholder…why don't more of us behold beauty? I have a friend who used to regularly greet me by saying, "Hello, beautiful!" This was often accompanied with a smile and hug, and I knew she meant it. I would not say that before that I [...]
Sex(ism) and The Single Rev
by Mariclair Partee Feminism seems to be a dirty word these days. At a recent all-women roller derby practice one of the organizers cheerfully described the league as being run by women, for women, but not, you know, “feminist” (the scare quotes were implied), and I was baffled. This denigration of the women’s movement is [...]
An Irrepressible and Irresistible Call
by Meredith Holladay They say, “write what you know.” And the two things I have always known are books and church. My dad has been a Baptist minister all my life, so church has been a part of the normal routine; church members have been like extended family. Likewise, shelves and stacks of books filled [...]
Pathos, Passion, and Pine Valley
by Bromleigh J. McCleneghan When Bridesmaids came out earlier this year, much cultural noise surrounded questions of box office success. Would men go see this? Could a comedy about women really make any money? Apparently, long standing wisdom suggests no; even if the finale hadn’t featured Wilson Philips, I would have delighted in the [...]
“The Reverend Doctor”
by Sarah Lund I might be one of the first among my young clergywomen peers to become a doctor. Why did I do it? My competitive nature. I am the youngest of five children and three of my siblings are doctors (two medical and one academic). The one without his doctorate is the smartest of [...]