When I shared with friends and colleagues, two years ago, that I would be matriculating to Yale Divinity School, I received mixed reactions, to put it mildly. “What?? Why?! Do you want to be a priest?!” One colleague asked, on four separate occasions, “Wait, are you really religious? It’s religious studies??” It was as though she was testing me to see if I’d give the same answers with a glass of wine in hand as I would under the harsh... Read more
This Lent, the 40-day period of reflection and preparation that precedes Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, is like no other in recent memory. It comes on the heels of an impeachment process which further emboldened an already shameless president; news that Russia is continuing to meddle in U.S. presidential elections; and early presidential primaries and caucuses that may well signal who will vie for the presidency in November. At the denominational level, United Methodists are preparing to meet for General Conference... Read more
The morning sun was bright, and I couldn’t decide whether to keep the warmth on my face or, if overheated, I’d need to retreat to a swath of shade a few feet away. I sat in a weather-beaten, Adirondack chair on my front lawn in South Jersey—across the street from a small river. I wished it were more visible, but spring’s green growth blocks my view. I was left longing for the aliveness of what I knew was just beyond the thick hedge. I was nearing the end of an amazing book—"Brain on Fire". I had no idea it existed on a shelf in my 21-year-old daughter’s room, but when she made a pile for Goodwill I found myself attracted to the title, the subtitle maybe most especially: "My Month of Madness." Read more
Life is not easy, but my theological perspective on suffering has made it worse. My extremely religious Korean-American mother would try to find some theological explanation. As we grew older, she started explaining hardships as yeondan — the refining fire of a forge. Read more
What if we treated Martin Luther King Day as not a day off, but a day on? What if on this day and going forward we honored the father of twentieth-century American democracy with a day of reckoning to take a real look at whether or not we are making a real difference in our world. A Day of Reckoning! Read more
Children need their families. As a mom, my worst nightmare is losing my son. I would go to any lengths to protect him. A Pentagon spokesperson said that the U.S. is preparing to shelter as many as 20,000 migrant children on four American military bases. Images come to mind of Japanese internment camps in World War II. Of our turning Jews back by the boatloads to Nazi Germany. Religious women are mad as hell. So we are heading to... Read more
By Vicky Ness Lately we’ve been watching the awakening and passionate action of new generation of social activists who are coming into their own across the country. And we need them now more than ever. We hope to see not only a commitment to our country and community, we also depend on the gifts they offer: fresh eyes with which to see ourselves, a new voice that can speak the truth, and a passionate spirit willing to stand up to... Read more
Attorney General Jeff Sessions responded to pressure from religious communities who are horrified by his policy of separating children from families at the border. He tried to justify separating nursing babes from moms by proof-texting Romans 13, which says Christians must obey governing authorities as ordained by God. Sessions is lying when he says he is merely enforcing laws passed by Congress. Sessions himself originated the cruel policy of ripping children out of their parents’ arms in early May. Even... Read more
Watching Anthony Bourdain douse every episode of his hit show, Parts Unknown, in alcohol was always painful to witness. He spoke frequently and eloquently of his addiction, but always in the past tense, as if it was an historical event that happened to a person he used to be. But an addict’s addiction is never in the past. I have no idea what the toxicology results of his autopsy will eventually reveal; but I do know that Mr. Bourdain... Read more
Depression is real. Depression kills. And it doesn’t discriminate. “How could you get Kate and Anthony?” I ask in anguish, even though I know the answer. Depression came so close to killing me in 2016, I still feel its icy fingers clutching at my heart, my hands, when I read their stories of loss. I know how Depression spoke to Kate and Anthony, how it whispered lies to them in their own voices until it tore them... Read more
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