Posts

On the Floor of General Conference

Never in my life did I ever imagine I’d be so excited about a consent calendar- a package of petitions that had fewer than 10 opposing votes in the legislative committee bundled into a single vote to save time. Sounds exciting, right? But there I was, on the floor of the General Conference of The […]

What Will I Teach My Daughter About Sex?

I was raised in a Christian environment that advocated “purity culture.” My older siblings were part of a traveling group of Christian teen actors called H.E.A.R.Ts. – Helping Educate Abstinent and Responsible Teens. I was familiar with purity rings, slogans like RLW – Real Love Waits, and Josh Harris’s book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. When […]

My Not-So-Dirty Secret

I first began writing romance novels when my twins were five months old; I was hooked up to the good old Medela breast pump and hunched over the laptop. I’d recently fallen back in love with reading the genre, with its unabashed celebration of female sexuality and romantic love. I was adjusting to my new, […]

Good (Progressive) Christian Sex (Resources): A review of Good Christian Sex

I have an entire shelf of books about sex in my office at church: historical critical analyses of sexuality in ancient Israel and first century Rome, dense volumes of theology and ethics, some psychology, and a distressing number of books about clerical abuse and safe spaces in church. One of my seminary professors instilled in […]

The Devil’s In The Details

This week the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, the denomination’s governing body, is convening in Tampa.  The Rev. Katie Dawson is  in Tampa as part of the delegation from the Iowa Annual Conference.  Her post, reprinted here from her blog, “salvaged faith,” raises questions particular to the UMC, but also for young clergy […]

Did You Really Just Say That?

Ministers are often the recipients of odd and not entirely appropriate comments, so most of us get used to putting on our unfazed faces and playing along. However, there are limits. I have to admit that my professional poise slipped a bit when a leering photographer at a wedding I was officiating leaned over and whispered that I had […]