A Prayer for Election Day

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 […]

Holy Spirit Movement: Puerto Rico Se Levanta

There is a phrase that has become a rallying cry for Puerto Ricans, whether on the island, mainland, or those of us in authentic solidarity with la gente Boricua: that phrase is Puerto Rico Se Levanta, or Puerto Rico Will Rise. Our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters have been in mourning over the loss of […]

Please, Let it Be Just Me

Years ago when I was in youth ministry I found myself deep in conversation with a group of freshman girls in the wee hours of a Saturday morning. It was dark and cold — winter in the Blue Ridge mountains — and I’d driven a 15 passenger van loaded with kids through the ice and […]

The Stone Cast Upon the Water

The August 15 edition of the “Christian Century” magazine highlighted research done by Benjamin Knoll and Cammie Jo Bolin which shows that “girls who have had a direct example of clergy-women in childhood grow up with higher self-esteem, better employment records, and more education than girls who did not.” [1] In a spectacularly coordinated move […]

The Cost of Inclusion

There is a hymn that is often sung in churches entitled “All Are Welcome,” and in the fourth verse there is a line that goes: Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face; let us bring an end to fear and danger. All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome […]

Slaying Giants

David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” I Samuel 17:32-33 […]

A Different Kind of Visitation: Re-Thinking Matthew 25

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the […]

Swords Into Plowshares

I would like to begin by sharing a bit of how I came to realize that gun violence is my problem, and not only can I be a part of the solution, but as a Christian, as a human being, as a mother, I have to be. I grew up in rural Maine. Many of […]

Why We Need More than a Framework of Rights in the Struggle for Justice

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated my home island of Puerto Rico. In less than 24 hours, over 3 million people lost access to running water, electricity and telecommunications. Hundreds of families became homeless; hundreds more lost the assets that provided for their employment. Healthcare services became severely limited, and the educational system was […]

Marching for our Lives: Called and Named

Looking younger than her eleven years, Naomi Wadler stepped up to the microphone to address more than half a million gathered in Washington, DC. She recalled how she and a classmate at her school in Alexandria, Virginia, organized an eighteen-minute walkout on March 14th, along with students across the country. With others, they walked out […]