Lillian Daniel
Immigrants like us: Family stories
My ancestors wanted to own land and prosper on it, to see their children and their children's children thrive. They knew that they were loved by a God who does not see national boundaries.
Campaign couples
John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's book about the 2008 presidential campaign has people talking about the private lives of the politicians and all the scenes we didn't see during the campaign.
Clergy gathering rituals
I was speaking at a Methodist clergy gathering when a pastor told me
that at first the hotel had not been excited about hosting the group,
...
The pastor's husband: Redefining expectations
"You can be a minister. Just don’t marry one,” I heard myself telling a little girl in my church, and then wondered where that came from. I suspect that I meant it as a compliment to my husband, who was standing nearby. Perhaps I had been short-tempered, as I sometimes am on Sunday mornings, so the comment was my way of saying that I know it is not always easy to be married to a minister.
Church netiquette: Ministry by e-mail
Like most pastors, I claim that the face-to-face meeting is the best way to do the ministry of the church; also like most pastors, I spend an enormous amount of time reading and composing e-mails. I am driven not so much by my own schedule or preferences as by those of my church members. Many of them use e-mail all day long and expect the church to do the same. If I want to keep up, I have to keep typing.
Things turn around: A Palm Sunday crisis
Eight years ago, shortly before Palm Sunday, our eight-year-old son was under the weather. My husband, Lou, had volunteered to cover the doctor’s appointment and a trip to the drugstore for whatever prescription would clear up Calvin’s little infection. “Go to the gym,” he said. “You need to relieve some stress.”
Our planet: Genesis 9:18-17
For the people in Noah’s day, there was no scientific warning of a natural disaster, just a crazy man building an ark.
Uneasy friendship (Mark 8:31-38)
Jesus and Peter care about each other enough to call each other out.
Call waiting: A journey to ordination
As I was growing up, the church was my one constant in a changing world....
Foreign service: Looking outward
I have a recurring nightmare about the final exam on which my college graduation depends....
Go and tell
About 86 years ago the mainline churches did something. Maybe we washed our lucky game underwear. Maybe we traded Babe Ruth....
Missing men
Where are the men on Sunday morning? The men are out seeking adventure, risk and challenge, while the women rule the pews within a dull but safe feminized church. So argues David Murrow, director of Church for Men, an organization aimed at “restoring a healthy masculine spirit in Christian congregations.” What of 2,000 years of male dominance in church leadership, from the first disciples to today’s clergy?
Secret passage: "The craziest thing you've done here yet"
In the minutes before the wedding ceremony, I wait downstairs in Pilgrim Hall with the groom and the groomsmen....
The cracked vase: Pronounced precious
The vase had once been a fine antique with a cream glaze and blue Japanese design, but now it was damaged. It stood amid the finer pieces, a mass of cracks, crudely glued together with what was obviously the wrong type of adhesive—everywhere the 20 or so pieces met one another, glue had bubbled out yellow as it dried, creating the effect of scabrous scars.“Why don’t you get rid of that one?” I asked my mother. “Never,” she replied. “It’s the most valuable piece of pottery we have in this house.” Then she told me the story of the cracked vase.
Rules of the road
Far from the grandstanding around stone tablets in front of an Alabama courthouse comes Losing Moses on the Freeway...