On Thinking Religion this week, Dr. Thomas Whitley and the Reverend Sam Harrelson talk about the access to information we all have at our fingertips. (How they get to this point is a really fascinating trail that’s worth listening to!) We all have the opportunity to read from a wide range of perspectives and we …
This Sunday was the first Sunday since January that I haven’t preached or been a part of a morning worship service. I wasn’t preaching because I was in Asheville celebrating an almost 6-year old’s birthday and trying to wrestle an almost 7-month-old through a dance recital. Before the dance recital, we gathered at the girls’ …
As the conversation about gender and sexuality is more prevalent in American culture, the question, “Do we have to welcome and affirm all?” is circulating in churches. Some churches are responding to these conversations and this question by expressing their rights as religious institutions to express condemnation and judgement. Some churches are responding to these …
I’m sitting at the local coffeeshop in my hometown, running into family and friends, and in general looking out the window in awe at the way the city has changed. There was a group of people who came together with a vision for making Spartanburg into a place where there was food, books, and coffee …
When I was in Germany, the other American teachers and I decided that we were going to run a half marathon. Now when we decided this we had all been running for a couple of years. I had run the Cooper River Bridge Run a couple of times and had loved it, so I thought …
I’ve just recently finished re-reading Walking on Water by Madeline L’Engle. I’ve had the experience of having the book mean something completely different to me during this time of my life. That’s the power of words, isn’t it? They can change and transform you again and again as you meet or re-meet them at different …
This morning, Sam and I (and Ben) served as volunteers for the Transitions Job Fair. Transitions is an amazing ministry in Columbia that helps aid and assist people who find themselves without homes. We were honored to be asked to help serve in the computer lab to assist clients as they created their resumes and tried …
Yesterday, I was being interviewed by the local news station about the disaster relief work Emmanuel headed up in response to the historic flood in October. We were sitting in the home of one of the recipients of the generous donations of FBC Orangeburg and Fernwood Baptist Church. We sat in Victorian Lakes Mobile Home Community …
As I got out of my car in the Walgreens, I heard the low whistle. I had already noticed the two men sitting in the van, but honestly I hadn’t thought twice about their attention. After being pregnant for nine months, I had forgotten what it was like to be whistled at and catcalled. I’m …
Gender Relations: Unsolicited Catcalls and Whistling Read More »
There were many sermons as I grew up on absolute truths, including that women were not called to be preachers and divorce was wrong. I remember when that comfortable, certain theology started to break down for me. It was when I heard stories of abuse. Stories of women whose husbands forced them to have sex …
