Smartphone being used

 

Smartphone being used

Using a smartphone to stay organized.

Ministry is like no other job in the world. A normal workweek might include tasks that look similar to the work of a counselor, a teacher, an entrepreneur, a plumber, an artist, and a stay at home parent. Many clergy find they have to piece together the organizational tools that work best for their context, because there’s no one perfect solution for our career’s unique organizational needs.

And so, in the spirit of a New Year, and in hopes of new discoveries for doing your best job of staying organized, we asked members of the Young Clergy Women Project what apps they’ve found to be most useful for the organized clergywoman. Answers that were most applicable to the needs of our career fell into a few categories: devotions, hours, to-dos, information management, reimbursables, and teamwork. Many of these are free or have free basic packages. Most work on various platforms, with exceptions noted. Read more

Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham

In my world as a solo minister, the line between work and play, home and church, is blurry and indistinct. Every book I pick up has the potential to become part of my adult education lesson. Bedtime stories with my sons often translate into children’s messages. Baking cookies is both relaxing and a great way to liven up a stewardship meeting. No matter what movie I’m watching or magazine I’m perusing, the search for sermon fodder is always lurking there in the back of my mind. I love that all of my interests speak with one another, and are in dialogue with my calling.

So, it should come as no surprise that the books I’m reading, my podcast list, the magazines on my coffee table (when they’re actually stacked there and not knocked to the floor by my kids), and my Netflix queue are each full of an array of genres and stories. I’ll take in almost anything written, spoken, or acted, so long as it’s done with integrity and an eye toward the human experience.

My new favorite read is a weekly newsletter called The Lenny Letter. Read more

Young Americans

Young Americans

Rarely can a book successfully weave together complex theological concepts, social justice frameworks, and the stories of ordinary people of faith. Pre-Post Racial America: Spiritual Stories from the Front Lines does just that. The book’s author, Sandhya Rani Jha, is deft at the art of storytelling. Her insightful analysis of the theology of racial/social justice-making plays a perfect melody against her counterpoint: a subtle but devastating critique of the ways we as mainline Christians are tempted to separate the (spiritualized) Good News from God’s call that we build the Beloved Community.

Jha does theology by participation, and through her willingness to locate herself, to tell her story, and to listen intentionally to the life stories (both spoken and unspoken) of others, she invites us to do the same. She lifts up both the deep theological roots of knowing and loving one’s neighbor, and the deep socio-economic roots of our systems of racial and class-based injustice.

It is these twin balances that define the book. Her essay “#Every28hours” is a Jeremiad in the truest sense. It comes after she sets the context with nearly a dozen stories of people committed to the work of justice, and just before her final three chapters, which are filled hope, wry humor, and deep optimism. She wisely notes, “We can’t get to hope without acknowledging what’s happening that robs us of our hope: despair is a necessary word, even though it is not the final word.” Amen, Rev. Sandhya. Amen.

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Movie Reels

Movie Reels

While I was serving as a camp chaplain this summer, a young woman asked me if I could recommend a Jesus movie. Her question surprised me at first: I wasn’t aware of a demand for Jesus films from teenagers. But we were at the end of a very deep conversation about her faith, and she was at a tender and critical moment in her journey. I wanted to make sure I recommended the right one.

As I racked my brains for just the right Jesus movie, I realized that she was seeking more than just a cinematic experience. Her generation, more than any other, is one that gathers its information from online media, especially videos. While books, plays, and other forms of art and entertainment provided connection and conveyed meaning for past generations, she and her peers turn to video sources like YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix for those needs. This teenager was asking for more than just information: she was asking for a way she could connect and relate to Jesus.

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Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates
152 pp. Spiegel & Grau.

TNC book coverWhen my son Moses was baptized I wrote him a letter about what baptism means for me. It was very much a letter from a pastor-mom to her son, touching on both the personal and theological, each in their turn. I read the letter that morning in lieu of a sermon, inviting the congregation to “eavesdrop” on my conversation with Moses, my baptism gift to him.

As I began reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, I was reminded of my baptism letter. Coates wrote this book as a letter to his son, and the book is an invitation to eavesdrop on that father-son conversation. That invitation is a tremendous gift to anyone who picks up this small, but powerful, memoir. Coates invites the reader into his experiences as a black man in America, and offers a perspective I was stretched in experiencing. Coates is well known in the journalistic community for taking strong and often controversial positions on issues of race. Several days later, I’m still mulling over this book, and wondering what changes it may have wrought in me.

Coates’ writing hovers somewhere in the vague, liminal space between poetry and prose, Read more

15573899782_f8142c8525_mA good calendar is the best friend of any busy professional, and for clergy, the art of scheduling has a few unique dimensions: weekends are busier (and therefore require more space); hours are unusual; there must be a balance of blocks of time alone for writing and planning, at the same time that there are blocks of time when one must be available to people and scheduled appointments.

Some of us work with an administrator who assists with our scheduling, but many of us manage, all on our own, schedules that would make a corporate executive’s head swim. We often work with an assortment of staff and volunteers with their own crazy schedules. So what’s the best way to stay on task and keep track of everything? Fidelia asked three young clergywomen to tell us about the method that works best for them: Mindi Welton-Mitchell on using Google Calendar, Kristen Wall-Love on using a denominational calendar, and Lauren Evans on using a designer paper planner.

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Coffee and the News

Coffee and the News

A favorite line of shop talk among preachers is that we must preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. (This quote is frequently attributed to 20th-century theologian Karl Barth, although trustworthy sources, like Princeton Seminary’s Barth Center, say there’s no proof of this exact quote, just similar statements by Barth.) TYCWP asked young clergy women what sources they use for news.

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An afternoon of watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

An afternoon of watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Being a young clergy woman sometimes feels like being a perpetual outsider. We find ourselves new to our congregations, new to our neighborhoods, and unlike most of the people in our clergy gatherings. Even after we’ve had the privilege of serving a congregation for a long time, we may know and love our people, but we are never fully one of the people. We are always slightly disoriented, trying to figure out who we are in our new circumstances, and searching for friends who can understand us and let us be ourselves.

Maybe that is why so many young clergy women seem so taken by The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, a comedy by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, creators of 30 Rock.

Unbreakable centers on Kimmy, a sunny mid-westerner played to perfection by Ellie Kemper. Kimmy was one of the “Indiana Mole Women,” kidnapped and held in a bunker for fifteen years. After her rescue, she is interviewed on The Today Show in New York City, and decides to stay in New York instead of traveling back home to Indiana, where her identity is defined by her kidnapping. In New York, she can start fresh and build a life on her terms.

Kimmy is an outsider, not only of place, but of time. Her clothes and cultural references are firmly rooted in the late nineties. In fact, the show is populated with outsiders. Tituss Burgess plays Titus, Kimmy’s roommate, an actor who never quite gets a break. The great Karol Kane is their loopy, paranoid landlady. Kimmy takes a job as the personal assistant to Jane Krakowski’s trophy wife, Jacqueline Voorhees, who experiences both the shallowness and the grief of an isolated wealthy woman. Kimmy starts to form bonds with these characters, and together they become unlikely friends. The strength of this hodgepodge community helps Kimmy face her past, transform the relationships she has with the other Mole Women, and finally face her captor in court.

The cast is fairly diverse, or at least the characters are supposed to be. (Jane Krakowski is not the most believable Native American ever portrayed on screen.) This emphasizes themes of outsiders figuring out how to belong, but not everyone has been comfortable with either the Native American story line or the story line about Dong Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant who is a potential love interest for Kimmy. Does his fear of the INS and job at a Chinese restaurant reinforce stereotypes or play with stereotypes we already have? (Kat Chow of NPR has a fascinating reflection on this.)

Of course, because this is a Carlock and Fey production, all of this intensity is leavened by joke after joke. Titus (a black man) finds New Yorkers treat him more generously when he is dressed as a terrifying werewolf than when he dresses like himself. Jacqueline’s dog is a breed that has had the poop literally bred out of them. Even Kimmy’s experience of being held in a bunker becomes the source of comedy. She ends up finding some of the coping skills she learned in captivity helpful to process ordinary life. (I may be guilty of testing out her method of jumping up and down and shouting “I’m not here! I’m not here!” as one way to cope with unpleasantness.) Kimmy is optimistic, but not stupid. She is naïve, but canny. We root for her, as do the writers of the show.

And through Kimmy’s optimism and stubbornness, even her outsider friends start to think more deeply about their own identities and take courageous steps. Titus auditions for more roles; Jacqueline divorces her unfaithful husband; Dong and Kimmy both work toward earning their GED.

Kimmy shows us fellow outsiders how to begin to be connected to those around us, even if we don’t belong, even if we will never fully belong. No one except her fellow former captives will ever fully relate to Kimmy, but she does not let that stop her from reaching out and creating a place for herself in her community. Maybe her courage and enthusiasm will encourage us to actually turn off Netflix and go out and make a life for ourselves wherever God has led us.

 

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In the last several months, TYCWP Board has heard wonderful ideas for book proposals to Chalice Press. The Project has had an imprint relationship with Chalice since 2008, and Chalice has published seven books (find them here) with TYCWP. An imprint relationship means that the YCW Board helps Chalice read and filter proposals to send to their editing board for publishing consideration. For books that do get published, TYCWP receives some royalties, which supports the mission of the Project.

Writing a proposal and/or a book for a real-life publishing company can seem like a daunting process. TYCWP has several members who have successfully completed publishing a book through Chalice. Mihee Kim-Kort, author of Making Paper Cranes: Toward an Asian American Feminist Theology, offers her perspective on what to expect in the process of writing a book. Brenda Lovick, who serves as the Chalice liaison, crafted some questions for Mihee to consider.

Brenda: How do you know if you have a good idea to write a book?

Mihee: Ideas come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they seem like epiphanies that drop out of the sky into your lap. Sometimes they’re like seeds. Sometimes they’re the tip of an iceberg, and the deeper you go you discover that there’s so much more to it and your very life is intertwined with it.

Talk with people that know you. You want to pursue something that is close to your heart, mind and spirit because it will take a lot out of you, and you need support. Ultimately, it’ll be up to you to commit – so no matter what the idea – go for it if you feel the fire in your bones. Put it out into the universe and see what comes back.

Brenda: How do you do it all?  Spouse, mom, career, and write?  Where do you find time to do it?

Mihee: I do everything kind of half-assed, honestly. That’s what it feels like. But, I try to integrate everything. I try to double up – if I’m writing a blog post that can be used in multiple places, that’s awesome. Or a germ of an idea might be found in a number of writings. Time is not very gracious or accommodating, but you do what you can do with the minutes or hours.

Ultimately, there’s no one way to do it. One day I’ll write for 15 minutes. Another day, a few hours. Maybe it will be in the morning. Maybe at 2 in the morning. It’s not easy and not everything will be good (actually, most of it is shit). It’s usually just not that pretty or romantic. But Anne Lammott writes some hard-but-good words about writing first drafts (in Bird by Bird, which I highly recommend for life, in general). All writing is not readable or useable, but writing – the practice and act of writing – is always good. You’re developing your voice, you’re developing habits, you’re shaping your craft.

Brenda: What makes a good proposal?

Mihee: Being clear as possible. Being passionate and authentic. Being thorough.

Brenda: What happens after your proposal is accepted?

Mihee: After you kind of freak-out, pass out, get drunk and celebrate or do whatever, you get down to brass tax and figure out the details about deadlines, time tables, and if you’re editing a book with numerous contributors, figuring out who’s writing for you.

There’s a lot of back and forth with one of the acquisitions editors and nailing down the actual book contract. At this point it’s helpful to have a second pair of eyes to look over the contract. Some signatures and mailing it off…then, you get yourself at your desk and start writing (if you don’t have a complete manuscript). There will be  instructions about format and footnotes – read carefully.

Otherwise take it a step, a sentence, and chapter at a time. Ask questions if there’s ever any uncertainty about anything!

Brenda: What do you think is the most important thing for a new or potential author to know before writing a proposal or book?

Mihee: Be gentle with yourself. Don’t expect to write a best-seller or manifesto or for it to be totally representative of who you are and your life right now. But, do be invested in it and expect it to consume most of your life. It’s going to be a labor of love. It’s an incredible experience and process, and if you have writing in your DNA then it’s going to be worth it.

Do you have an idea and want to submit a proposal?  To learn more about the process of writing a proposal, click here.

Listening to podcasts

Listening to podcasts

Ministry is a profession with an odd combination of hours spent alone, intense one-on-one time with a few people, and at least one day a week of full-on engagement with a crowd. When we deal with the crowd, it might consist of research scientists, plumbers, some college professors, stay-at-home parents, and a few artists.

Given those unusual parameters, it’s no surprise that clergy people are often great lovers of the podcast. A podcast can be more than just noise in the background during that time alone; it can also be a way to hone our skills as preachers and story-tellers and to feed our curiosity and add to our knowledge about the world around us.

Fidelia’s Sisters asked young clergywomen what podcasts (besides the ever popular Serial) they are listening to. The answers went well beyond preaching and religion podcasts. Many are, of course, radio episodes re-packaged as podcasts, but we’re counting them in. So, from our ears to yours, a few recommendations.

The podcast is a great format for storytelling.

This American Life: the mother of all modern long-form storytelling reporting programs. Weaving together a few thematically related pieces, some episodes make you cry, others make you laugh, and many do both.

The Moth: real people telling their real stories in front of a live audience.

StoryCorps: collected stories recorded in special “booths” around the country, usually one real-life person interviewing another.

Selected Shorts: famous actors reading the best stories out there.

The Writer’s Almanac: a daily reminder of the best parts of your college literature course, with a poem in each short daily episode.

Snap Judgement: a weekly program with a theme, told by a more diverse array of voices and perspectives than many other story-telling format podcasts.

Welcome to Night Vale: broadcasts from a fictional radio station, in a small town where odd things happen.

 

Sometimes what you need most is a hearty laugh. And sometimes, it’s the comedians in our culture who say things that are just this side of prophetic.

WTF Podcast: comedian Mark Maron interviews other actors, comedians, and musicians. Not always safe for the office, but often quite honest conversation.

WireTap: each episode is an adventure through the brain of its host, Jonathan Goldstein. Hard to explain, but sort of a version of This American Life, hopped up on existentialism, and with a recurring cast of characters.

The Bugle: a news review starring comics John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman, covering world news with a satirical twist.

Comedy Bang Bang: an eclectic assortment of comedian guests, hosted by Scott Auckerman.

 

And then, there are podcasts that provide context and commentary on current events and the world around us.

On the Media: a weekly radio show on, well, the media. It deals not just with the news, but how the news is covered.

Tavis Smiley: weekly longer format interviews with great perspective on racial issues in American culture.

Double X Gabfest : female reporters from the online magazine Slate chat about a topic in the news.

BackStory: a group of historians take current events items and explain the historical context (going back centuries if necessary).

Planet Money: NPR’s long-form coverage of financial news, which assumes that the listener is intelligent, but perhaps not trained as an economist.

Film Spotting: a weekly, hour-long, public radio movie review show. (One of the two co-hosts, Josh Larsen, is also the editor of an online magazine about Christianity and culture: it’s fun to listen for his faith perspective to inobtrusively sneak into the film reviews.)

More Than One Lesson:  Movie reviews from a more obvious Christian perspective.

Women’s Hour: Daily hour of news coverage from the BBC highlighting women’s issues.

 

Some podcasts just help us get our minds out beyond the doors of the church.

RadioLab: delves into a scientific topic (everything from biology to sociology to physics) and does so with story-telling and a sense of wonder.

Freakonomics: researches questions in the same vein as the best-selling book of the same name.

Lexicon Valley: a podcast from Slate that explores the origins of words.

A History of the World in 100 Objects: review world history with this series in which each episode uses an important artifact as a teaching tool.

99% Invisible: a podcast that tells the stories behind the designs we encounter in everyday life, it covers everything from architecture to pinball machines, to shipping containers and fonts and lightbulbs.

The Longest Shortest Time: stories and commentary about a variety of parenting topics, particularly focused on the early months and years.

Criminal: stories about crime and things done wrong from a variety of perspectives.

Stuff Mom Never Told You: an offshoot of the How Stuff Works podcast, but about women’s issues.

Dear Sugar: an advice column podcast hosted by Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond.

Death Sex and Money: a show about the things that are left out of polite conversation (which, it turns out, we clergywomen often have to talk about with people).

Help us add to this list. What are the podcasts that think every clergy person should check out?