Blessing our Caregivers
Third Sundays in our congregation are healing Sundays. During communion, two healing ministers position themselves behind the altar rail, anointing oil in hand, to offer healing prayers and blessings to […]
Discipleship, Not Diet Culture
“New year, new you!” We’ve all heard it before. As the holidays wind down, and New Year’s Day approaches, the onslaught of diet culture begins. Countless ads, commercials, messages, and […]
Where Jesus Would Put the Kids in Worship
Last weekend, I posted a picture on instagram of my husband with our two youngest children, playing in the child-friendly “prayground” space at my sister in law’s church. (Shout out […]
What Language Shall I Borrow?
I can still feel a bit of burning embarrassment from the conversation that happened nearly 12 years ago. My dad, a pastor and theologian, helped me pack up and move […]
Becoming a Sanctuary Church
“Immigrants and Refugees Welcome.” In resistance to the Executive Order banning refugees from seven majority Muslim countries and discriminating against Muslims, those have been the words on our sermon boards […]
Campfire Church
Q: What do you do when life gives you lemons? A: You make s’mores. For about a month, we smelled natural gas outside the sanctuary doors. But as it often […]
Praying with Our Farmers
Like many good ministry ideas, this one came about by accident. I interned at two small, rural churches during my second year in seminary. At one of the churches – […]
Communion in the City
There’s a story, a myth perhaps, about a congregation that stopped all activities during Lent. That season they gathered for Sunday worship, and then the pastor and elders visited the […]
Life at The Table
In Seminary, a professor had a “Dead Church Swear Jar.” If we said local congregations, denominations, or the Church universal was dying or dead, we had to put money in […]
Finding the Missing Peace
Can a person worship while doing gymnastics or talking about science? How about walking a labyrinth or making school kits for refugee kids? While many of my young clergy women […]
