Posts

The Future of the PC(USA) is Being Reformed by God

The future of the PC(USA) is being reformed by God. And it is as limitless as the holy imagination that we vow to practice when we are ordained.  That’s it. That’s the article that sparked this response. But I’m going to go on, because The Outlook started a conversation that is worth having by using […]

A Women’s History Month Blessing for Clergywomen

  I grew up in a Christian denomination that still opposes the ordination of women, but this March I’m celebrating my first Women’s History Month as an ordained clergywoman. When I left my childhood church at the age of 18, it took me a long time to find a church home where women were recognized […]

The Gifts of Waiting

When I can help it, I do things early. I learned to ride a bike at five, moved away from home at sixteen, and graduated college after three brisk years. In retrospect, I’m not sure why I was in such a hurry. And yet, I couldn’t hurry a call. I tried. Believe me, I tried. […]

Speaking For Me

“The issue.” That’s how we are often talked about by conservatives and progressives alike. To those who would like to purge The United Methodist Church of all of us queer folks, we are discussed not as real people in the church but as “the issue of homosexuality.” Then there are allies who are quick to […]

Fewer Gender Binaries, More Expansive Leadership

We are saddened and frustrated whenever male colleagues in ministry seem to be suffering amnesia about the power of women’s leadership in shaping the church. Recently, a United Methodist clergyman penned a commentary for a forum run by the United Methodist news service on the role of women and men in the church. In it, […]

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 […]

“Even when they call your truth a lie, tell it anyway!” — Remembering Katie Cannon

It was April 7, 2014, and my friend and I boarded a bus from Washington, D.C. for a daylong adventure in New York City. We were headed to Union Theological Seminary in the for the premier of “Journey to Liberation: The Legacy of Womanist Theology and Ethics at Union Theological Seminary.” The film was an […]

Ask a YCW: Discerning a Call Edition

Dear Askie, I think God is calling me to ministry! I never realized what a long and involved process it’s going to be to become a pastor. And did you know that even with a seminary degree, ordination isn’t guaranteed??? I was shocked to find out there are so many things I have to do! […]

“Out of the Bathroom, Into the World”

“You need to develop a pastoral identity. It comes with time. Don’t worry, it will come.” One of my dearest seminary professors told us this over and over, and I believed him. It would come: I would be able to see myself as a pastor, the more time I spent learning, watching other pastors, performing […]

A Love Letter to My Swamp Monsters

When you are ordained, you agree to love your congregation in the name of Jesus Christ. When you like them and when you don’t, you love them because, well, that’s just the deal you’ve made with God. In seminary they told us this would be both infuriating and holy work. What I didn’t learn in […]