How This Unholy Trinity Came to Define the American Church
Throughout the past four years, I have struggled to make sense of what’s been going on in my country and faith community, and I’ve consistently come up empty. Sometimes I just throw my hands up in frustration, telling myself that it doesn’t matter whether or not I understand. But there are two reasons I keep trying:
- When regularly exposed to insanity, it’s important not to succumb to it, and one way you can protect yourself is to analyze what you see happening versus what you believe and know to be true.
- If you don’t want history to repeat itself, it’s…
Herding My Inner Cats
Finding a Career After Years of Being a SAHM
When I was a kid, I thought a midlife crisis meant you bought a sports car because you felt bad about getting old. I also thought it was a guy thing — an old guy thing. Yet here I am, proving myself wrong: a 50-year-old mom with no sports car on the horizon, standing at the crossroads of the rest of my life, freaking out about what to do next.
For me, this is not an identity crisis. One of the best things about turning the big 5–0 is finally being able to live out who I am with security…
A letter to exasperated Christians on the verge of calling it quits
I’ve written a lot lately on the state of Christianity in America, and to be honest, I’ve gotten more discouraged about it with each passing day. I know where I stand on issues and facts and the tenets of my belief system, but my actual practice of faith has felt anything but solid. Sometimes it feels like sand passing through my fingers as I try to sift out what is important and worth holding onto. Yesterday, I got an email from Evan, a young man who read one of my recent articles, and it stirred me to a response that…
AN OPEN LETTER
I’ve always been part of the problem
Being a Christian in America has a definition of its own
Until a few years ago, I could never imagine writing an article like this from personal experience.
I was your basic white-evangelical-church-lover and church-goer whose practice of the Christian faith was the most visible and prominent part of who I was. I attended the same church (with my husband and kids) for more than twenty years, and was active in every possible way a person could be over that duration. I led Bible studies and sang on the worship team. I served on the missions committee, went on numerous missions trips, helped plan holiday services, even preached a sermon one…
Wake Up Call
If Not Now, Then When?
I know we are right smack in the middle of a pandemic crisis, racking up weeks upon weeks being ‘sheltered in place.’ Absolutely everything feels uncertain, and there are so many more questions right now than answers.
For me, the wide-scale ambiguity and confusion are pushing my buttons and I’ve constantly had to battle my anxiety. I’m winning, for what it’s worth, but to be honest, it’s getting kind of exhausting. I like making plans. I like schedules and routines (to a point) and I like…well…control.
Don’t we all? That’s part of what is making this crisis so maddening. There’s…
Focusing on These 5 Things Will Change Everything
These are dark times we’re living in. Some of us are more than aware of this cold reality, while others need a reminder — a witness — to what they are afraid to acknowledge. Not since WWII has anything overtaken life as we know it on a global scale. You could even argue that this current pandemic has had a farther, deeper reach than a world at war. We all are fighting the same enemy this time, and for better or for worse, we are truly all in this together.
Like all tragedies and crises, these times bring who we…
The Wildly Unpredictable Path of Grief and Healing
I’m going to try really hard to not make this a stream of consciousness type of thing, but this whole pandemic/quarantine/epic-world-crisis situation is sending my emotions into overdrive. I’m feeling all the feels pretty much every day, but my biggest recurring “feel” has to be grief.
It’s understandable, I guess, considering the times we are in.
So, today, I was out taking a walk, listening to my music — my music being BTS, at the moment. Yes, I’m a grown-up, but my Korean daughter has recently turned me on to K-Pop, and I’m smitten. Anyway…I’m listening to their latest album…
6 surprising and profound things I learned from making this difficult decision
It’s quiet today.
There’s no shuffle of little feet in the next room, or the sounds of random objects being chewed, dragged, or sniffed. I’m not on high-alert for the signs that will send me on a mad dash outside with treats in my pocket. The dog toys have been picked up and put away. Food and water bowls gone.
I brought him to his new home yesterday, amidst gut-wrenching sobs on the hour-long drive. He had never seen me cry before, and so he sat there, with his head resting on the console, staring at me with worried eyes…
The Future of the American Church
How the Christian church can move forward in the wake of #metoo, #churchtoo, and the Trump presidency
Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; no city or house divided against itself will stand. Matthew 12:25
Recently, I wrote an article about the impact of Christians supporting President Trump, and in response, one reader suggested I should next address where I thought the Church should go from here. After I stopped laughing at the notion of somehow being qualified to do that, I thought, well, who IS qualified?
Nobody, I guess — except maybe someone who deeply cares about the…
