Next December: When Hope Takes the Long View

December 11, 2018 By Erin Wathen

Sometimes hope takes the long view. During Advent, we talk about holding out hope for a season. We are waiting for a miracle that “arrives” at a designated point in time. Specifically, Christmas morning. We have cute countdown calendars and everything. Twenty-five days ’til… Ten days ’til… Three days ’til… etc. The anticipation allows kids to get excited—and then get REALLY excited—about the moment when they can finally, finally, tear into the presents. And, on a level more meta: there... Read more

Singing In the Dark: 7 Christmas Songs You Never Saw Coming

December 8, 2018 By Erin Wathen

What I know from years of blogging (and pastoring) is that people have some FEELINGS about their holiday tunes. We are all attached to our tunes, and that is okay. In fact, the reason I have SO much to say about this topic every year is precisely because good Christmas music can be so meaningful and transformative (for all of us triggered folks). That makes the cringe-worthy, the corny, and the cosmically bad all the more unbearable. I recognize that ‘good’ and... Read more

Coming and Going: Ghosts of Advents Past

December 3, 2018 By Erin Wathen

When you’re a pastor, there is never a good time to tell your church folks that you’re leaving. It’s always going to be gut-wrenching, heartbreaking and complicated. There’s no perfect moment for sharing that news. But there are some times that are worse than others—and the beginning of Advent feels, in many ways, like one of the worst possible times (second only to the week before pledge card Sunday being the most apocalyptic thing imaginable). But that is precisely what... Read more

Who Is It That We’re Waiting For? A Clanging Carol

November 26, 2018 By Erin Wathen

Who is it that we’re looking for, when we sing Away in a manger, no crib for a bed … Who is that baby we think is coming To sleep so soundly, so content in his poverty and Unbelonging? Who are we thinking of, in all those refrains of Noel and Angels We Have Heard on High? Who is that child who so unobtrusively slips into the night So as not to disrupt our ugly sweater party, or... Read more

Crossing Over: A Trip to the Border, in Pictures

November 14, 2018 By Erin Wathen

Last week, I made a quick trip to Arizona, and an even quicker trip down to the Mexico border. I was a keynote speaker for the Disciples of Christ Regional Assembly in Tucson, and some of the regional leaders planned a Friday morning drive down to Nogales where we would cross the border on foot, visit our partner church, pray and serve communion with those waiting to cross into the U.S., and then cross back over. Some of that worked... Read more

Every Drop of Decency is Fought For: Thoughts from Kansas Organizer Davis Hammet

November 12, 2018 By Erin Wathen

Democratic women won several high-profile races in Kansas last week; reversing the state’s recent trend towards extreme conservatism in recent election cycles. That purple you see on the map now in the middle of the state is not just for K-State fans anymore. I’ve joked to several friends that “Kansas was a Tea Party state until I got here!” The implication being that the sheer force of my feminist rage turned this thing around. That, of course, is a farce.... Read more

The Dangerous Myth of Good Guys With Guns

November 8, 2018 By Erin Wathen

good guys with guns aren’t bullet-proof they just die first because the gun lets the bad guy with a gun know where to start Another morning in America, filled with typically American things: a cup of coffee in hand; the sounds of kids chattering over breakfast while they get ready for school; a check of the weather outside to see if you need your winter coat today (yes); and news of another mass shooting on the TV in the background.... Read more

Women in the House: Progress Comes in Steps, Not Waves

November 7, 2018 By Erin Wathen

As of today, there are 100 Women in the House of Representatives. 100 Women in the House. First, let me just say—dibs for band name and/or book title! When I was doing research to write my book, I came across some grim data. Statistics showed that America was about 50 years away from having equal representation in government. Fifty years. Five decades. Longer than the span of time since the feminist movement of the 70s and right now. That was... Read more

The Kids Are Listening

November 6, 2018 By Erin Wathen

Reason #1,847 to vote: The kids are listening. My kids … and everybody else’s too. My 10-year-old came home yesterday and told me there was a new song the kids were singing at school. You know, the happy-clappy kind of playground rhyme that girls jump rope to? (Apparently, that’s still a thing? Who knew). Anyway, she’s like: “There’s a new song they’re singing at recess. But I don’t really like it …” She said this vaguely, but in a way... Read more

Trump as Messiah: The Billboard Is Gone, But the Sentiment Remains

November 5, 2018 By Erin Wathen

If you live in the St. Louis metro and you drive home on I-70 in North County, you might be tempted to shut your eyes. Don’t do that. It’s dangerous, and we need you alive to vote. Keep your eyes on the road. But avert them from the giant billboard: proclaiming Donald Trump as Lord and Savior of us all. I’m not even kidding. Look how gross this is. I struggled with giving this image any more exposure. At the... Read more