Peach and Potato: A Parable

Last updated on: August 4, 2020 at 5:31 am By Erin Wathen

Listen: Yesterday I went to rural Missouri with some youth and other church folks. We spent the day working with Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund. This program connects workers arriving in late summer for harvest season with vital resources and services — assistance with food, clothing, dental care, school registration and more. Our congregation has supported this organization for many years. Since we have a sister community in a small village in El Salvador, working with MFAF is our answer to... Read more

#BecauseJesus

Last updated on: July 23, 2014 at 10:41 am By Erin Wathen

While flipping through radio stations, I came upon a show where the morning hosts asked people to call in and ‘tell me something good.’ I thought, hey, people sharing good news. I like good news. So I stopped to listen and heard some nice stories about recovered health and restored relationships. The beauty of the day or a joy of a fresh start. Then a guy called in and said this: “Yeah, with all this stuff going on in the... Read more

Holy Ground: A Small Place at the Center of Everything

Last updated on: July 21, 2014 at 9:28 am By Erin Wathen

Genesis 28:10-19 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13And the Lord stood beside him and said,... Read more

The Turning Away

Last updated on: June 17, 2014 at 7:41 pm By Erin Wathen

PSSSSSsssttt. You guys. Somebody tell the Southern Baptists that the transgender crowd is not exactly queuing up to join their churches… Is exactly the kind of snarky thing I’m really tempted to say right now, just a few days after the Southern Baptist Convention voted to affirm a resolution condemning transgender people. Because really, telling the transgender folks to get out of the Baptist church? That’s kind of like telling the Portland hipsters to stop shopping at Wal-Mart. It’s almost... Read more

View from the Fountain: A Pentecost Sermon

Last updated on: June 11, 2014 at 7:47 am By Erin Wathen

[click here, if you’d rather listen than read] 1 Corinthians 13:3-13 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in... Read more

Screaming Like a Girl

Last updated on: June 4, 2014 at 1:44 pm By Erin Wathen

The small boys were screaming—nay, shrieking—on the playground. It was all in good 4-year-old fun, but dang, it was shrill. It was headache-inducing. Anyone with ears would have wanted it to stop. Including the dad volunteer (this was a co-op preschool setting) who approached them. “Hey,” he said, “hey, cut it out. Are you boys? Or are you little girls?” Oh, HELL no. He did NOT just do that. But yes, he sure did. And you know what? It worked.... Read more

The Art of Lazing: Your Summer Reading List

Last updated on: May 3, 2020 at 7:47 am By Erin Wathen

Hey, you. Yeah, you over there: Posting your pictures of summer home improvement projects; the litany of outdoor activities, parties and marathons that fills your calendar; your Pinterest board full of landscaping ideas, cooking adventures, and craftiness; the ‘before’ pictures of your closet, about to become glistening ‘afters’ worthy of a spot in the Pottery Barn catalogue… YOU ARE WEARING ME OUT. Everybody knows what summer is really for. Reading. Hours and hours of reading. Glorious lazing about– on a... Read more

Dig In: 10 Ways to Find Your Feet in a New Place

Last updated on: May 27, 2014 at 3:19 pm By Erin Wathen

Hey. I haven’t had much to say lately. I’m not sure why that is, other than that when you write and talk and write and talk, all day long, then go home and talk some more, you will at some point run out of words. They always come back, eventually—usually as an assault to the senses, like an alien, animal thing trying to escape you all at once; a rush of words that literally burns itself into your brain (maybe... Read more

Life Out There: Celebrating 5 Years of Patheos

Last updated on: May 5, 2014 at 12:17 pm By Erin Wathen

As a writer, I live ‘in here,’ in my head much of the time. As a faith leader, I live ‘out’ in the world, and up in front of a big community much of the time. ‘In here’ and ‘out there’ are two scary places to be sometimes. This is why I started blogging. It is easy to feel isolated with one’s own thoughts. Especially if some of those thoughts are doubts about faith, or critiques of the Church, and... Read more

Red Tape at the Table

Last updated on: April 29, 2014 at 12:32 pm By Erin Wathen

Picture this: a devout woman, active in her local parish, has been denied communion for years, because her husband (not her) has been previously married. Therefore, her marriage is not considered legit by the Church. So she writes a letter to the Vatican. I’m not sure what sort of response she was expecting. But what she got was a call from THE POPE. He calls her up, says, it’s cool, you can take communion. No biggie. She leaks the call... Read more