The Right Kind of Prayer

Last updated on: March 13, 2014 at 12:11 pm By Erin Wathen

A few weeks ago, Saint Andrew Christian Church hosted a “Welcoming Church” event, in partnership with a sister congregation and the GLAD Alliance. The goal was to generate conversation around what it means to be an open and affirming congregation, and what difference it makes to identity and mission when you ‘say out loud’ that you welcome everyone. Because, if we’re being honest, most of our congregations still chant the mantra. You know the one: “We welcome everybody. Why do we have to talk... Read more

If My Wings Should Fail Me

Last updated on: March 11, 2014 at 11:53 am By Erin Wathen

I’m back among the living after a week down with the flu. Not a 24 hour flu bug type thing: actual influenza. Think sharp knives stabbing your chest every time you cough (which is, let’s just say, often) chills, all-over body aches and general awfulness. And then my husband and one of the kids got it, and well… all downhill from there. But like I said–I’m back among the living today, newly aware of the fragile state of life embodied. ... Read more

“Jesus Feminist:” A Gospel of Empowerment

Last updated on: March 7, 2014 at 1:26 pm By Erin Wathen

“Jesus Feminist: Exploring God’s Radical Notion that Women are People, Too.” My initial reaction to that title was “Well yeah… Like we been sayin.” Because in most mainline protestant circles, we have been HELLA sayin. For like, 100 years. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad to see this book—an apologetic for empowering women leaders in the church—emerge in the evangelical circle, because, you know, ‘those people’ sure need to read it. But I didn’t really expect to find anything... Read more

Marked

Last updated on: March 6, 2014 at 2:06 pm By Erin Wathen

Yesterday, I found myself decidedly NOT at church, imposing ashes. Instead I was at home, trying to rest myself back from the flu I’ve been battling, and being clung-to by my littlest one, who woke up with it yesterday. Though I never left my house, I spent the holy day keeping a different kind of watch…one that every parent knows too well, and one that bears its own kind of liturgy. So I wrote a thing. From dust you were born. To dust... Read more

Your Brother on Game Day

Last updated on: February 28, 2014 at 8:08 am By Erin Wathen

Our guest post today is from Victor Adeyanju, Victor was defensive end for the St. Louis Rams from ’06-’10, and then for a season with the Cincinnati Bengals. I asked (though I sort of knew) what he thought about all the drama circling around the very IDEA of gay athletes in the NFL. Maybe you know, or maybe you don’t, that after Michael Sam came out, some lobbyists scrambled to initiate this movement to ban openly gay players from the... Read more

The Rebirth of Moderation

Last updated on: February 25, 2014 at 11:58 am By Erin Wathen

Have we had enough? My brain hurts. My heart hurts. Here are just a few of the demoralizing, backward, and crazy-making things happening in the news this week: Arizona wants to deport all the gays. (Pretty much.) And so does the NFL. No, wait. Some POLITICIANS want the NFL to ban gay players. Cause pro ball is covered in the consitution? Michael Dunn (of the ‘Loud Music Trial’) was not convicted of murder for killing a black teenager; and yet, prison phone... Read more

We Who Are Alive (or, 10 Reasons the Church Ain’t Dead Yet)

Last updated on: February 20, 2014 at 4:17 pm By Erin Wathen

“The mainline church is in decline.” “Religious leaders no longer carry any authority in the community.” “Most churches spend more on building expenses than they do on mission.” ” [arbitrary number of your choice] people leave the Christian faith every [another arbitrary #] minutes.” “And where, oh where, ARE THE MILLENIALS? We gots to get us some millenials!” We get it. Times are tough. We’ve all heard/seen/lived the truth of these despairing stats over the past 5, 10, or 25... Read more

Snake in the Grass

Last updated on: February 18, 2014 at 6:02 pm By Erin Wathen

Fair warning for my mother, and others with intense reptile aversions–there be snakes in this post. Talk of snakes, the idea of snakes, links to articles containing pictures of snakes, possible scriptural allusions to snakes. If you want to skip this and come back tomorrow, there will be an entirely serpent free post. So this guy… in Kentucky… I’m guessing you know where I’m headed with this… He died from a snake bite. In a worship service. Where he was the pastor.... Read more

Gay Cheeseburgers in Kansas: Faith, Freedom, and a Law About Neither

Last updated on: February 13, 2014 at 3:46 pm By Erin Wathen

So, I’m new here. And I realize that Kansas has JUST BARELY moved past the Prohibition. But I am baffled and perplexed by this new legislation, making it totally legal and legit to refuse services to same sex couples. Granted, this is just one more way Americans have managed to slap a ‘religious freedom’ sticker on run-o-the-mill discrimination. But as the culture at large makes steps toward LGBT equality, smaller interest groups push back in last, grasping efforts to marginalize and condemn. This is... Read more

Singing for Our Lives

Last updated on: February 11, 2014 at 10:57 am By Erin Wathen

I’m not sure how it started, or when. But at least since I was a young’n, and probably a good many moons before that… each year, several hundred high school students would gather at the Hyatt Regency in Louisville for Kentucky All State Choir. (Yeah, that’s how we rolled, y’all. A glimpse of my wild and crazy youth right here). That hotel is about 20 stories high, with a large open-air atrium for a lobby. You can look up from the... Read more