BEST OF: Published in Most Columns

  Recently, I was planning a worship service that focused on the body of Christ–both the metaphor that Paul uses and the bread of communion. I could not find a hymn that tied these two things together, so I decided to write one. (This is the danger on weeks I do not preach–I find something […]

For Better Or For Worse

“Mawwage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam…”  The Princess Bride is one of my husband and my favorite movies.  Eric and I have seen it so many times that we can speak the characters’ lines with them, and we laugh preemptively.  We know well what is coming, and yet we find it hilarious […]

A Child’s Generous Gift

First, I have a confession to make – I am uncomfortable talking about money.  One of the things that I dreaded about going into the ministry was knowing that one day I would have to preach on stewardship.  Those Sundays always come around once a year and there is hardly any way to get out […]

Not Called and Unsent?

Dear Sisters, I realize that the occasion for my letter places me in great danger of being labeled with some of the least honorable epithets of our age: a whiner, a free-loader, and the most hurtful of all, lazy.  But it is a truth that I cannot escape.  I am unemployed.  And though my husband […]

Blessed Be the Tentmakers

I haven’t had a boyfriend in a very, very long time. Or even a good date.This long stretch of singlehood has made me identify more closely with the women in the Bible who are dealing with their barrenness. Not the literal lack of children in my womb, but the inability to form the family I […]

Equal Work for Equal Pay?

I held the paper with disdain. Presbyterians had an annual report that came out, detailing the salaries of every pastor in the area. My spirit plummeted when I saw the figures. I noticed how the guy that just graduated from seminary was making 20K more than I was, even though I had five years of […]

Changing the Conversation: Resources for Talking Money

It happens. I don’t want to make excuses about it – but you know that it’s happened to you too. You go to a continuing education event, you take superb notes, you nod in vigorous affirmation, you wonder why you couldn’t bring the biggest nay-sayer in your ministry to sit in the corner.  And then […]

Best of: Most Comments

It just happened again. I put down a copy of my seminary alumni magazine, after reading yet another article about how clergywomen can “have it all”. In the nearly seven years since my ordination and ten years since I began my seminary career, the drumbeats insisting that clergywomen can be both full-time pastors and full-time […]

Filling My Emptiness

I thought I was indestructible. In 2009 I had easily managed to graduate from seminary, have a baby, begin my ministry as a solo pastor in rural Wisconsin, and buy a house. Everything went as smoothly as it could, the transitions were managed well and I was able to balance my roles as wife, mom, […]

Preach it! or maybe not…

I had never been able to talk about the events of September 11, 2001 in a sermon, and whenever I heard anyone else do so, I would inwardly cringe. My mind would wander, my ears shut down. I might even try on a little righteous indignation: how dare the preacher use such a significant, searing […]