“I solemnly swear…” Her lip twitched, her eye twinkled. “I solemnly swear…” we repeated, our right hands raised to the sky, our fingers making the shape of any good scout promise. “That I…” “That I…” We giggled. We were standing around a table of pretzels and Kool-Aid. It was a summer Tuesday, one of the days we spent at the church children’s program. “Will not spill this Kool-Aid on the new carpet…” “Will not spill this Kool-Aid on the new … [Read more...]
A couple of Sundays ago, I had a phone date with my 90-year-old grandmother, Deenie (aka "Cotton"). The boys were outside in swimsuits with Chris and a water hose and I had an hour-long window and a phone. After a week of family stomach-bug yuck, I called Deenie, cleaner and sponge in hand, ready to scrub every surface of the house while we talked. Instead, I ended up at my kitchen table, pen in hand, scribbling her words onto scraps of paper. Nine years ago, I bought … [Read more...]
It was a good day, but a long one: the house in disarray. Another week where we planned to go to our small group from church, where I made dinner early and managed to bring the boys in early from outside (one tantrum in the process but I only got bit once). August hates small group. We went for the first time five weeks ago and my oldest boy decided he’d never go back. Since then, Chris has gone alone. Staying up an hour past bedtime is hard enough on the boys, but if August is crying and … [Read more...]
“The abbot or abbess, once established in office, must often think about the demands made on them by the burden they have undertaken and consider also to whom they will have to give an account of their stewardship. They must understand the call of their office is not to exercise power over those who are their subjects but to serve and help them in their needs. They must be well-grounded in the law of God so that they may have the resources to bring forth what is new and what is old in their … [Read more...]
A Thankful Tuesday List: My tendency to hit my funny bone and faint is kind of a joke in my family. I pass out, not when my life is at risk or I've truly destroyed a significant part of my appendages, but when I fall down on my knees or hit my elbow on a counter. Such a dorky problem. So, Sunday morning, when I banged my knee on the wall while getting into the shower (going on one hour of less sleep than usual), it was sort of inevitable. I'm thankful for my husband who woke up to my … [Read more...]
One of the things I most love about the intentionality of liturgy is how suddenly it can catch my throat in worship. Lately, though I'm always moved by words in music or scripture, it's in the physical movement of worship that I am most reminded of God's sweet presence, that I hear most loudly the movement of grace and forgiveness and restoration. At Christ Church, we follow a liturgical tradition that is a bit odd (compared to your regular liturgical service...at least I think it must be). … [Read more...]
Today we celebrate All Saints Day. We ride in the car to our new church, a people we’re still working our way into and around. We’re new to them, them to us. Last week my husband worshiped with our former church in San Francisco. Only months ago they were ours. We walked there, down city streets, with a boy in a stroller and a baby strapped to my chest. This week we drive the miles to the center of our new town, where the college students walk from laundromat to sports bar, the lights of … [Read more...]
If you haven't yet read Monday's op-ed piece in The New York Times, now is your chance. Karl W. Giberson and Randall J. Stephens, both professors at Easter Nazarene College, write with conviction, honesty and fairness toward the anti-intellectualism of the greater Evangelical conversation in our culture. This article was written on behalf of all of us in the Evangelical sub-culture who are frustrated with "fundamentalism [that] is literalistic, overconfident and reactionary," those of us … [Read more...]
My brother and sister in law gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday. It didn't take me long to go straight to my Wish List and find the two books I've been most longing for. One is finally going to order my life (I know it! Come on, Organized Simplicity!) The other is going to be discussed on these pages over and over and over. I can feel it. To Dance With God was recommended by my friend Nancy in San Francisco, who taught a course in our church on living as a Missional family. She often … [Read more...]
I remember the first time I left a family conversation, excused myself to the bathroom and cried. I think I was in 7th or 8th grade. Great Uncle Charlie had stopped by my Memaw’s house for a cup of coffee and a chat. I don’t know why I was there and I don’t remember anything about the conversation. All I remember is that my grandmother’s brother used the “N” word several times without blinking an eye. And no one around me seemed phased. But I, two generations removed, with only a … [Read more...]
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