A year and a half ago, I left my full-time congregational ministry setting to take an intentional year off from full-time congregational ministry. I had been ordained a decade, serving congregations for a decade and a half, all of it as a program pastor in multi-staff churches. The congregation and I were no longer a […]
We don’t know each other well, but we’ve been chatting for awhile, maybe at a party, or at a playdate for our kids. The subject of what we do for a living hasn’t come up yet, and we’re talking easily about other things. But then the time comes when we would normally talk about what […]
My body is heavy this Advent. Mary of Nazareth’s body was heavy too, or so we imagine in Advent. She is often shown so young and beautiful, demure and obedient, glowing though that may be the halo more than the pregnancy. If we have ever met a real live pregnant woman, we might more […]
Thursday was Thanksgiving in the United States, making today #GivingTuesday. We asked our Young Clergy Women International Board members why they are thankful for this organization and why they give to YCWI. Here are some of their responses: “I’m thankful that YCWI enables me to experience the depth and width of the body of Christ. […]
Two years ago, I wrote an article for this publication on the significance of the United States having elected our first female President. I wrote it before the election, obviously, but hedged things in such a way that it could still be tweaked and published in the very unlikely event of Hillary Clinton losing the […]
I feel it. Slowly at first. Suddenly, my spirit bursts and I must stand. Within seconds, I am on my feet. I’m swaying, one arm on my heart and the other raised in the air, palms open. Something in me notices that I am the only one standing while I am in church. “Am I […]
My thumbs move swiftly across my phone screen. One quick search on Instagram for #BLESSED shows over 100 million tags. As I scroll, I see pictures of sculpted bodies, expensive cars, tropical destinations, healthy babies, and shiny accessories. A few posts stand out as having some kind of spiritual message or focus on gratitude. Yet, […]
Even as we speak the words “A Prayer for Election day” We find in our guts the traces of humanity: in suspicion in wondering what kind of prayer this might be. For what are we asking of you, Divine One who gave us voice And thought And will What shall our petitions be On this […]
Here in rural Illinois where I live, the leaves on the trees are starting to change—red, orange, and yellow gracing our streets and college campus green spaces. Alongside the color, you’ll find bare expanses of dusty dirt fields, where thousands of farmers seem, en masse, to have harvested all of their corn and soybeans at […]
Sexual trauma. Two uncomfortable words to see in print and to write about, particularly in the church. Sex is still a taboo subject in the church in the year 2018, although church folks are having quite a bit of it – whether it is wrong or right, single or married, ethical or unethical, or even […]
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