Posts
The Word…and Wisdom…Became Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 A new year can be a time for new beginnings, but we are also still in the season of Christmas, perhaps with these very words about beginning from the Gospel of John fresh in our hearts. […]
Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance, A Review
A well-hosted dinner party is a work of diligence and artistry. Even leaving culinary gifts aside, strategy and insight go into cultivating the guest list, arranging seating, introducing new topics of conversation, drawing guests in and lifting up the commonalities and unique expertise around the table. By the end of the evening, all the guests […]
A Place at the Table: Thinking Theologically about Hunger and Poverty
Here in rural Illinois where I live, the leaves on the trees are starting to change—red, orange, and yellow gracing our streets and college campus green spaces. Alongside the color, you’ll find bare expanses of dusty dirt fields, where thousands of farmers seem, en masse, to have harvested all of their corn and soybeans at […]
WTF, God? A Prayer after Pregnancy Loss
I was in a church meeting when I found out I was having a miscarriage. I had stepped out of the conference room at our diocesan offices when my phone rang, assuming it was the fertility clinic calling to give instructions for starting the next round of medications. We had been told that the last […]
A Young Christian Woman and a Young Muslim Woman Walk into a Cafe
A young Christian woman and a young Muslim woman walk into a cafe…no, this isn’t the beginning of a joke. Interfaith jokes rarely include women – in fact even more serious images of interfaith relationships depict male priests, rabbis, imams, or monks gathering for a meal, a drink, or a football game. These images are […]
God Grew Bigger: A Review of This Is My Body
Hannah Shanks’ This is My Body came out the same week that I learned I was pregnant. I had already been planning to buy and read the book – the author is a friend – but that pee-saturated stick gave special urgency to my reading. On the first page the author finds out that she is […]
Facing Fear: A Review of Everything Happens for a Reason
The other day, after school pick-up, my daughter and I swung by the church I serve to quickly pick up something. Naturally, my daughter had to use the restroom. While washing our hands, she asked with an earnest curiosity, “Does God brush his teeth here?” I asked her, “What made you ask that?” She responded, […]
Learning to say “Yes, And…”: A review of God, Improv, and the Art of Living
I still remember that gathering in a hotel meeting room in Kansas City. The NEXTChuch conference had just ended, and a group of pastors gathered to learn about Improv and how it could impact our ministries. Our speaker was snowed into her hometown, and the leaders began to change their plan. Yes, we were going […]
Not What You Meant: The Bible and the Gospel in The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale, the new Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, needs a trigger warning. It’s “intended for mature audiences,” but it’s hard to watch if you’ve ever been in a relationship with a total imbalance of power, if you’ve ever been pregnant or nursed an infant, or had a child die, or […]
