The Young Clergy Women Project
A network of the youngest ordained clergy women.
Last month, my family and I moved again. We’ve moved a number of times, so you’d think that we would be old pros, able to easily navigate the ups and downs of moving. This time, however, things were very different. This time, I was moving not as part of a team of two married people, [...]
I struggle deeply in those in-between times of the year, the Lenten fasting, the Advent waiting. The call nags and pokes me, but most church seasons I can stay so busy with ministry ‘stuff’ that I can push it to the back of my mind. Christmas? Easter? No problem, I can get wrapped up in children’s programs, [...]
Editor’s Note: With many clergy spending time in the summer focusing on Advent and Christmas preparations, Sunday Morning and Beyond is featuring a poem and sermon from Advent to help get those creative worship juices flowing. Happy Planning! Sing a New Song! Mary’s song – Luke 1 & Hannah’s song – 1 Samuel 2 Isaiah’s [...]
My ordination was just months away, and despite hours of prayer and reflection, I was unable to discern my calling in ministry. My husband and I had recently relocated to Mumbai, India, following his recent job promotion. Whenever I ventured out into the city, I was confronted by the suffering of homeless beggars, blind lepers, [...]
This Father’s Day will be the first on which my son’s father is no longer my husband. He left me for another woman earlier this year, and though he has so far been faithful to the custody agreement with our son, I worry constantly about Ollie not having the kind of father he will need [...]
Easter morning. The sanctuary is full. The trumpet fanfare happens right on cue and the lilies – in addition to making my nose itch – are beautiful. Streamers hang from the ceiling and flowers have taken the place of the black sash on the cross. The congregation is preparing for communion as the newly baptized [...]
“The Red Barn” was three stories of junk and treasure that stood for decades on the campus of Gould Farm, a long-lived residential rehab center in Massachusetts where I volunteered for two years in my early twenties. It had a dirt floor, reeked of mildew and dust, and was crammed with history and potential. If [...]