The Young Clergy Women Project
A network of the youngest ordained clergy women.
Two years ago, I stood in the pulpit preaching the hardest sermon I would preach to date. That sermon; my first “goodbye” and “I failed, I’m sorry” sermon, flowed from my mouth with sadness in my breathe and tears streaming down my face. “Hot Mess” and “Ugly Cry” describes this occasion. The congregation listened and [...]
On February 26, 2010, my brother Cameron died of an overdose of heroin. I was in the middle of my first year of graduate studies for my Master of Divinity degree. I was 27 years old, and after a few years of post-college floundering, I’d “discerned my call,” as we clergy-types say, and began the [...]
This will be the third year we do a backpack prayer at our church. We announce for several weeks before that all children are invited to bring their backpacks with them to church on the Sunday before school starts (here that is usually the last Sunday in July!!). During the time for children, we invite [...]
I knew they had to be there. Reaching to the depths of my drawer, my fingers blindly searched for those frayed edges. My “Mission Trip Jeans” were needed for ministry today and I couldn’t find them. Since I no longer work directly with youth my need for these jeans has decreased; however, I have held [...]
Day 1 11:42PM Having procrastinated until the eleventh hour on this week’s sermon, the only thing that makes sense at this point, less than nine hours before said sermon will be preached, is to join an online dating site. Dating site X is selected, and I begin to fill out the form that will, with [...]
This past year, every few months, I met with a group of young clergy with the Lewis Fellows. Every time we gathered, we began with a check-in where I got to explain once again: I’m still searching. My intention by participating in the Lewis Fellows was to offer a transition – with a built-in support [...]
I was wearing a hospital gown and trying to ignore the stirrups I would soon be placing my feet into when I found out about the Supreme Court’s health care decision. I found out about it by text (3 texts, actually) before I heard about it through the news. My boss (the head of a [...]