by Katy McCallum Sachse Outwardly, I’m sure it looked as if I was listening intently as the assisting minister read from Isaiah. Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Inwardly, I was counting the number [...]
The Learning Curve
by Colleen EM Maillie When I accepted my first (and current) call, I was intentional in looking for congregation that had time and space carved out for children during the week. To put it bluntly, I was look for on-site childcare for the future, hopefully at a reduced (if not free) price for future dream [...]
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. [...]
How do you do it?
by Jennifer Hackbarth I feel like people often ask me this question when they find out I am a solo pastor, part of a clergy couple, a mother of two young children—and I don’t live near my family. This question immediately makes me feel terribly defensive. I start to wonder what the questioners are really [...]
Mama v. Mother
by Allison Sandlin Liles How does one distinguish between two separate motherhoods when both are twenty-four hour a day jobs? My toddler son, Hill, knows me as Mama, while my parish (despite my resistance) knows me as Mother. These two vocations fight constantly for my attention, causing me to feel that I am short-changing them [...]
Whose kids ARE these??
by Jennifer Creswell Every Sunday, on the drive to church, I ask my boys who will be their special grownup that day. The boys know they have a good list of grannies and grandpas to choose from—most of them actual grandparents—people who are happy to have an extra kid or two join them in the [...]
Sex, hope, and grief
by Name Withheld They teach you a lot about sex in health class in high school. Or rather, they teach you a lot about the HORRIBLE THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU if you have sex. STDs! Teenage Pregnancy! Betrayal by the captain of the football team! Now that I’m fifteen years on the other [...]
Hapas, Hybridity, and Harmony: Raising Non-White Kids in a White Congregation
by Mihee Kim-Kort I picked up this article off of Racialicious. Color-blindness used to be the “goal,” until people realized that it wasn’t really doing the work. If people were “color-blind” to me it usually meant they saw me as “white,” or disregarded my tie to the Korean culture. This wasn’t helpful in terms of [...]
Somebody’s Watching Me
by Susie Shaefer Watching people receive communion is one of the privileges of ministry – but never before had people commented to me that they were watching as I received, and then shared, the elements with my daughter. I suppose that wearing a baby on your back will draw some attention. I’m familiar with the [...]
We’re one, but we’re not the same
by Maria Bergius Krämer Today, I was approached by two of our oldest ladies in church. They are 93 and 97 years old, and regulars at laudes (morning prayer), Monday soup, Sunday Mass and just about everything else that their frail legs can carry them to. They called me over to their table, and asked [...]