Posts

Looking in Hope

I created the piece “Looking in Hope” for a friend who asked for a prayer painting to hang on her child’s bedroom wall. I have often thought of Psalm 91 as having two voices: one that is unsure and overwhelmed and one that answers from deep experience in walking hardship with the Lord’s help. Throughout […]

We Need Eastertide This Year

Eastertide is the liturgical season spanning fifty days after Easter morning that leads to Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is a time in the church calendar to celebrate the significance and impact of Christ overcoming death. It is a time in the church calendar to celebrate resurrection. Eastertide is powerful because […]

Two Maundy Thursdays

  Physical touch is not my love language – but Maundy Thursday is my favorite day of the liturgical calendar. I grew up in a denomination that did not place much value in high liturgical experiences (or the value of women in ministry, but that’s a longer story for a different day). As I found […]

The Lonesome Valley of Birthing this Holy Week

New life is coming into a sick and suffering world for me this Easter, just as it did that first Easter. As I sat reclined in the dim monitoring closet of my OBGYN’s office listening to the heartbeat of the new life growing inside me, I realized I was beginning to understand Holy Week in […]

Betrayal in Holy Week

Spy Wednesday This is “Spy Wednesday,” the day Judas betrayed Jesus. Orthodox Christians reserve Holy Wednesday for anointing and healing. I reserve it as a day for clergy self-care. What better way to anticipate bodily resurrection than with a Holy Week massage? Today’s anointing, however, is actually a betrayal. The massage therapist touches me inappropriately. […]

A Geek’s Guide to Holy Week

A Geek’s Guide to Holy Week “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.” A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the King of the Universe, though he was […]

Ask a Young Clergy Woman: Holy Week Pro Tips Edition

Dear Askie, It’s Holy Week in my first call! I’m a solo pastor at a small UCC church, and I’m trying to gear up, but I’m not really sure what to expect or what I need to do. The liturgies are prepared, the sermons are written (well, mostly written), the bulletins are proofread, and I […]

From Death to Life

Editor’s Note:  This may be difficult to read if you have pain around not being able to have a child or to breastfeed. Holy Week is a powerful time.  It is a time to tell a powerful story.  It is a time to tell stories of death turning to life. My body has often felt […]

Homesick for Holy Week

Ah, Holy Week. Slightly odd worship services most churches only do once a year, complete with lots of minuatie and logistical details that easily lead to long “notes for next year.” There’s trying to say something novel, or, if not novel, at least somewhat profound and maybe even somewhat memorable, about something that has been […]