“I don’t know how you do it!” they often say with exasperation and awe in their voice. Admiring onlookers into the mom life watch their pastor – their spiritual leader – change diapers, juggle food and feelings of little ones and teenagers alike, all while preparing for Bible study, lending a presence to the sick […]
For the fourth day in a row, I was leaving the church building after dark. As my three children and I made our way to the back parking lot after a long day of Bible, Music, and Art Camp, I was feeling guilty. Guilty that we were out past my toddler’s bedtime. Guilty that my […]
A Prayer for My Sons: God, protect them. Protect them from ignorance of their privilege and the advantages they will have as white men. Protect them from entitlement. Protect them from being indoctrinated into a system of white, male violence against women and against people of color. Protect them from the temptation to stay silent […]
As many mothers do when their young ones run toward them, I scooped up my four-year-old son. Together we enact this move on a nearly daily basis, but this time, my lifting him into my arms was out of the ordinary. This time my son had wiggled out of his seat in order to make […]
It’s Saturday morning. I dig through a clump of pink and green plastic princess necklaces as I search for my dove pendant, an image of the Holy Spirit I ritualistically grab to go with the dress I wear to officiate a funeral. I smile because the plastic necklaces are sure signs that someone else has […]
“You’re going to seminary? Are you sure?” This wasn’t the reaction I was expecting from my mother when I called to tell her I’d applied for admission to seminary. After all, I was finishing up my year serving in Northern Ireland as a Young Adult Volunteer through the PC(USA), so seminary shouldn’t have come as […]
Right before Christmas, my daughter fed the baby Jesus to our dog. We have a long-suffering boxer mix, Gary, who will do anything my 16-month-old daughter asks. I was working on plans for a Christmas event, and my daughter was across the room playing with our wooden nativity set which I thought was indestructible. I […]
The words the nurse said that day return again and again to my thoughts: “If the ulcers that are on the inside of her body were on the outside, you’d have to wonder how she’s been making it through the day.” It was a Wednesday, the day of my then eleven-year-old’s diagnosis with Crohn’s disease. […]
I am a pastor and the daughter of a pastor. I attended Sunday school, worship, and Bible studies for all of my growing-up years. I majored in Religion in college, and I have a Master of Divinity. I have taught and preached Bible stories to thousands of people across multiple congregations. But one night, as […]
Starlight dims, newborn stirs; the body that bore the child throbs still. Angels heavenward, shepherds to their flocks, a child and her child, dew-covered, clumsily nurse. Aching journey to the temple– abiding Torah, dedicated. Simeon and Anna: salvation seen, dismissed in peace. And then the gap– silence flanked by temple steps, a long twelve years, […]
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