Benediction For Unity

Benediction for Unity It is hard to admit this because we are kind people but we wouldn’t know unity from contempt we wouldn’t know togetherness from war we wouldn’t be able to say that the church body is whole we are too mixed up with who is for us and who is against us we […]

Unity through Grace

It was May 9, 2005, and Patrick and I were ten days into our marriage. We had an overnight layover in London on the way home from our honeymoon. As soon as we got off the plane, we had a disagreement about where we should spend the night. We tried my suggestion first, but it […]

Disappointment: A Holy Invitation

Months before my husband and I went away for our tenth anniversary, I began to fantasize about the celebratory getaway. We would eat dinners by candlelight, give each other extravagant presents, walk along the beach reminiscing about our wonderfulness, and of course, make love each night. As Christopher has learned, I’m fluent in all five […]

Outrage Fatigue and Leaping the Divide

I picked the wrong week to return to Facebook. It’s no secret, I have a small capacity for the constant churning machine that social media often is. Most days, it’s loud enough in my own head without adding voices of dissent and dissatisfaction muddying up my synapses. I suppose this is one right of the […]

Hope Sings. Arrebato.

It’s Wednesday, and on a hill in San Tomás, Guatemala, hope can be heard. It’s faint at first, like the delicate rustling of trees responding to the touch of a spring breeze. If you close your eyes and lean in, the melody grows clearer. Rustling becomes wind chimes that hint to a tune your heart […]

Becoming Gap-Bearers

There comes a point at which we stand in the gap, with and for each other, when we can’t bridge the gap ourselves. We get sick, in body and in head. Our schedules are eaten up by deadlines and assignments and responsibilities – by all the Really Good Things we’ve said a hearty “yes” to. […]

There is Enough

One of my favorite Bible stories is the story of Elisha and the widow. For those not familiar with it, Elijah, while visiting a land in the midst of a drought, stops at the home of a widow and asks her not only for water, but for a piece of bread. He is thirsty and he […]

Holding on to Hope

Our nation is set to welcome Donald Trump as President tomorrow, and everything in me mourns- not because I fear him but because he’s become a catalyst to unleash the ugliness within. I felt concussed most of November trying to sort through what had happened. I felt betrayed by those who share my faith, scared […]

Prayer is How We Battle

Anger. Distrust. Blame. Fear. Hate. Pointing fingers and sharp words have filled our screens in the past year as divisions in our country and world have widened. The chasm between our political parties, religions, nationalities, races, and classes has never seemed wider. During the summer of 2016 I stepped back from writing as much to […]

I Learned to Really Apologize

I sat in the parking lot of the grocery store with my cell phone in my hand. People were bustling all around, running their errands and loading their cars with brimming bags, but I couldn’t get that last conversation out of my mind. No matter how I tried to push the feelings aside, they kept […]

A Different Kind of Unity

Wherever I found religion in my life I found strife, the attempt of one individual or group to rule another in the name of God. The naked will to power seemed always to walk in the wake of a hymn. – Richard Wright   Nestled between the land masses we call Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan, […]

The Paradox of Unity

The last few months of my life have been an unexpected time-out. I’ve taken a (somewhat) self -induced sabbatical. This past July I lost my job. Two months later after nervously taking another job, I was unemployed again. Somewhere between all this employment drama, my grandmommy died—and that’s only a very small sampling of the […]

Staying Thirsty, Staying Hydrated

“Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink,” said the poet. That was my experience last month but under slightly different circumstances: I got the worst stomach flu of my life. I had just spent a fabulous weekend in holiday-festive New York City with my family when my body turned against me. First came […]

Loving After Trump

I was one of the 19 percent. Nineteen percent of voting white evangelical Christians did not choose Donald J. Trump to be president. And, like most non-Trump supporters, I spent the first days after the election in grief and fear over what a Trump America would look like. The morning after the election, I was […]

2017: Entering In

We are excited to leap into 2017 with you and have some exciting announcements to share!! Sad news first. We’re saying goodbye to Abby Norman, who has been with us since the beginning. She is pursuing her dream of becoming a pastor and needs to focus her time and energy on seminary. We will miss her […]

Rescued and Redeemed

I saw his grizzled face, breadcrumbs around his dry mouth, as he offered a smile that looked genuinely happy to see me. I returned the smile that probably showed more concern than joy. He didn’t look well, not like the last time I saw him. He was much thinner, unkempt, but his eyes eager to […]