It’s not everyday that you get to celebrate a fifth birthday, but lo and behold, on February 5th, we did just that. Of course, The Color of Life is not an actual person. Lest you be confused by a title articulating that someone is five-years-old, let me be clear: my book baby is five years old. The book that made me an author just turned five years old! Is this something to be celebrated? Should this even be marked? When should... Read more
As I whittle down the final words to my next book, Church Camp, I find myself grateful for companions on the journey. Now, companions, in the case of book-writing, aren’t necessarily moving, living, heart-beating human beings. Although I have a fair amount of cheerleaders a text or email away, writing is often a solitary pursuit. I can sit on a couch or even on the other side of a Google Meets screen and write at the same time as another person, but... Read more
If you haven’t yet heard, this summer I signed a contract with Broadleaf Books for my next book. Tentatively titled Church Camp, the nonfiction project is part spiritual memoir, part theological musing; part humor and wondering if there might be another way. Although many have wondered if I’m just trying to burn it all down or throw white evangelical church camps under the bus, the truth is that I’m not. I am critical, to be sure, but this world, these... Read more
When a reader recently posed the following question, I knew its answer wouldn’t be too hard to find: French Footballer Kylian Mbappe’s Faith Journey: Muslim Or Christian? After all, we’ve got some big Mbappe fans in our house. For the burgeoning soccer stars among us, Kylian Mbappé (better known, simply, as Mbappé) is everything. He’s arguably one of the best soccer players in the world. An immigrant, Mbappé was born in Paris and grew up in a Parisian suburb called Bandy.... Read more
Here’s a sermon for you, preached on June 11, 2022, at St. Paul’s Episcopal in San Rafael. Enjoy! Yesterday, my day went like this: Make some coffee. Walk the dog. Read a book. Take a shower. Make some food, eat some food. Volunteer at Guns to Gardens, a gun buyback event that takes surrendered guns and forges them into garden tools. Play around in the garden. Send some emails. Answer some texts. Bake some banana bread. Make homemade pizza. Write... Read more
Here’s a sermon for you from November 6, 2022, preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal in San Rafael. Enjoy! On Friday, my husband James and I sat across the table with a new friend and our real estate agent. It was a time of remembering: remembering back to a little over a year and a half ago when our landlord informed us that she was going to sell the house. We needed to move. It was my birthday, that much I... Read more
Here’s a sermon for you, preached on February 12, 2023 at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Oakland, California. Enjoy! A month or so ago, Garden Club met on our front porch. Garden Club is just as it sounds: a club for people who love gardens, who live in our neighborhood. I’d go on these walks with Rufus, the dog, and always noticed the front yards with raised vegetable beds or succulent displays, perfectly-trimmed rosebushes or walkways lined with tulips. Sometimes I’d... Read more
Here’s a sermon for you from October 23, 2022, preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal in San Rafael. Eventually I’ll pen some regular articles again, but short sermons always feel appropriate for squeaky topics like humility, wouldn’t you say? Enjoy! — Ah, humility. In our house, the tendency to prove yourself better than your brother often happens, so much so that the words “one-upping” have become a regular part of my vocabulary. “Today, during lunch recess kickball, I kicked the ball... Read more
This is a sermon given at St. Paul’s Episcopal in San Rafael on March 27, 2022. Although we’re not in the middle of Lent anymore, this whole idea of interruptions always feels rather appropriate if you ask me. Enjoy! — Here’s the truth: double-takes happen. They happen when we’re walking down the street, and we see a friend we haven’t seen in a decade: is that really her, him, them? Double take. They happen when the popping beauty of spring... Read more
Here’s another sermon given at St. Paul’s Episcopal in San Rafael on May 22, 2023. Feels rather evergreen to me, when it comes to the message; I trust it might be the same for you. Enjoy! — Yesterday, my boys and I loaded up the foldable wagon: camping chairs, blanket, towels, soccer ball, football, juice boxes, sparkle waters, chips, gluten-free hotdog buns, sunblock, cell phone, keys, and a book, just in case. We had everything we might need in the... Read more
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