The following appeared in my email in-box just last week. As you will read, the author (from here on known as “pen pal”) was concerned about my privacy and wanted my permission before going public. I appreciate his concern, but I thought his email was too notable not to share, as, whatever your opinion on the issue might be, this email provides an excellent introduction to the in-box of this (and I’m certain many other) woman pastors. Consider this blog... Read more
Can it really be 15 years since we got married??!? I guess it’s true what they say about time flying when you’re having fun. Read more
I don’t know when the shift happened. It seems like just yesterday that I was the intern. Now I HAVE interns. How very strange.In my two summers of supervising pastoral interns for field study experience in ministry I have had the incredible good fortune (blessing of the divine, that is) to work with young ministers who are not just good but truly wonderful–in both cases women who are certainly called to pastoral ministry, have met rigorous academic challenges, have been... Read more
If holiness is directly relational to how many pictures of Jesus one owns, I have to say this congregation is far holier than I’ve given them credit for. In our recent move we’ve unpacked an astounding array of pictures of Jesus, which are now propped up on the floor of the church library.I’ve toured museums in Europe and never seen the vast collection of different renderings of Jesus that I recently came upon lined up along the walls in the... Read more
I came home a few nights ago to fireflies everywhere. It was just dusk, halfway between the heat of the day and the dark of the night . . . you know, that time of day when everything looks a little softer around the edges. Those few moments on the porch watching fireflies gave me pause. See, I love the way they fly, kind of heavy in the air, like they are nonchalantly happening by; and I love the way... Read more
In the course of conversation the other day a friend declared, “Every dog has his day!” Truthfully, I’ve never given much thought to the deeper meaning of this colloquialism, and neither have I stopped to consider how very strange it must sound to someone listening in. All I know is that, though I don’t like them very much, we happen to own a dog, and if “having his day” means an experience of reckoning, I suppose that’s exactly what happened... Read more
“To consider your preaching of more importance than the opening of a flower is to leave the narrow path. To value certain appointments on your daily calendar and resent others as intrusions is to misunderstand the Word. To esteem and enjoy some people in your parish and to discount and dismiss others is to wobble blindly. To meet the needs of others and ignore the whispers of your own soul is to succumb to the illusion that there is a... Read more
“You should really ride the bus,” my friend Jess told me the other day. Usually I take Jessica’s advice—she always recommends great books. But in this case I was not too sure. Of course in this city public transportation is pretty chic, you know. We ride the Metro, and you can definitely be cool and ride the Metro at the same time. In fact, a lot of people think you are not cool if you don’t ride the Metro. But... Read more
The whole point of having children while we were young, Mark and I told ourselves, was so that we’d still be able to walk when they headed out the door to college, leaving us free to join the Peace Corps, take up sky diving or sail around the world. You know, whatever might strike our fancy. That plan seemed to be working rather well. When the care of three energetic children and one intellectually impaired dog started to get us... Read more
One of the greatest gifts of my first few years here at Calvary has been the opportunity to be part of a group of young clergy coming together from all different denominations and various geographical locations around the country to learn together about leadership. We meet several times a year for two years, and we’re currently in Boston for our second-to-last meeting. At every meeting we discuss a specific topic and hear from excellent practitioners; each session includes conversations with... Read more
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