To Be
I started getting in trouble for my ‘to be’ verbs in junior AP English. It was my favorite class of my whole school experience, but it was also the point at which i realized i was not the greatest writer of all time. (WHAT???) My teacher, the legendary Mrs. McNulty, would take a red ink [...]
A Perfect Day
Following a pretty rotten day, the universe will sometimes throw you a nearly perfect one. Or maybe it’s just that, for me, two consecutive rotten days are unacceptable. In any case, yesterday= pretty dang crummy. Today, however, rolled something like this: Day started, per usual, with a small girl crawling into bed with me and [...]
Flex Space, Sacred Space
Chairs or pews? Ah, the age-old question that has turned many a pastor’s hair gray before his/her time, and split many a faithful congregation down its carpeted center-aisle. That is, if they hadn’t already split over the carpet color… The first time i walked into a sanctuary that had chairs, i thought it felt weird [...]
The Story You Thought You Knew
I used to love those Richard Scarry books when i was a kid. You know the ones: with lots of colorful, happy-looking animals, dressed like people, going about everyday sorts of activities. Some little vignettes thrown in here and there, but mostly, just some commentary on what the animals are doing, what kinds of stuff [...]
Confession: Progressive Christians Love the Bible, Too
It occurs to me that I should never be famous. Not that i was ever in much danger of that…i’m just thinking that i should avoid it at all costs now, because I am still experiencing ‘feedback fatigue’ from the discussion about amendment 1 the other day. I usually get a handful of readers, mostly [...]
Immediately
Parenthood comes with that same sense of urgency. They grow so quickly, we don’t have much time. Let me get just this one snack made, this one conflict dissolved, this one dance recital/baseball season/science project under wraps…then i will rest. Then I can enjoy the ride. But sometimes…well, sometimes, the urgent replaces the important. And we can spend a great deal of our lives focused on that ‘just one more’ thing, and far too little of it in the moment.
We Hold Some Truths to be Self-Evident…
I went to bed angry, and woke up with a deep and painful sigh of the soul. Every other blogger in the progressive and free-thinking world is writing and ranting about North Carolina today. But really, what can you say? What can you say when a country that is based on freedom, passes a law [...]
A Moving Picture
My 3-year-old has a new catch phrase response for when you ask her a question and she doesn’t know the answer. Or at least, doesn’t have the words handy. She says, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen the movie yet.” Now, somewhere in her quickly-developing brain, there is a very literal connection in there, something that [...]
S*^! Jesus Says: The Missionary Edition
“Good afternoon. My name is **Jane** and I’m with **Betterthanyou** ministries. I was wondering if you’d like to meet with one of our missionaries and learn more about how to share the gospel of Jesus with our Jewish brothers and sisters?” Oh, girlfriend. You are barking up the wrong cactus… And THIS is why i [...]
The Mercy Instinct
As a pastor, I see it time and time and time again: a person has been deeply wounded by a loved-one. They struggle to process the world through this new lens of heartbreak. It doesn’t matter if it is a sibling, a spouse, a friend, or a parent/child relationship –we are hurt most profoundly by those [...]
