I got the dreaded “mailbox is full” notification yesterday morning. Between Spring Break and Holy Week, I had let some phone messages pile up and was slowly working my way through those voicemails. In an attempt to get back on track, I scrolled through. my voicemails to see if there were any I could automatically …
This past year of ministry has been walking close to grief both personally and as I walk with so many people grieving the loss of loved ones, the loss of plans, and the loss of the way we lived before COVID. Although it may sound like a year filled with sadness, it has actually been …
After my second year of teaching, I went to Germany for one school year to teach. As a young American in a small town, I found myself most often on the same schedule of retirees. We would eat our kuchen and kaffee at the same time in the afternoon and then go see a lecture …
As I walked into the sanctuary this morning, I realized I had accidentally left on the lights behind our stained glass windows. As I looked closer, I checked in our “hope” window. We’ve been watching that window because it’s started to teeter a bit. The weight of the biggest stain glass is showing the impact …
Over the past year, I have been on a journey to analyze and to resist the hustle of a capitalistic society. I have tried to keep track of my learning and my reading here in this space so that I can remember the revelations that occurred when I started asking, “Why?” And then, I hit …
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the phrase “being negative won’t help” or “just think positively.” There is a thread that runs through our culture ad our society, especially for women, that urges us to “stay positive” and “to smile more.” This is especially prevalent in conservative communities and depicted in the Lego …
As I have walked with individuals and families along the journey of grief, one of the reflections I’ve heard again and again is their surprise that the day after a loss or tragedy, the light still comes in the morning. As we were walking yesterday, I felt the same surprise. How could the day look …
This week is the week where Christmas and Christmastide collide every year. For many who celebrate a cultural Christmas, this week is full of taking down decorations, reorganizing, and decluttering in order to get ready for the New Year. For me, this is the week for basking in the light of all five candles blazing: …
This year, our Christmas tree lights have been on more often than ever before. We’ve always turned our Christmas tree on whenever we were home and this year we’ve been home a lot. This is the first year that we haven’t traveled during Christmas week. This is the first year we haven’t seen family during …
One of our favorite things to do as we are on our morning bike ride and walk is to find our shadows and watch how they change as we turn onto new roads and the sun rises higher. As we were walking the other morning, I found our shadows seemed to be everywhere. Their presence …
