First Person
Learning to love our church’s (expensive) steeple
At first I resented the costly repairs. Then I took a closer look.
When our church started receiving offerings through Venmo
The new givers are great. Their comments about why they give are even better.
How my daughter’s speech delay has changed my preaching
I want others to know the power of the gospel the same way she does.
Tastes of God’s kingdom at our church’s community meal
The people come, bringing something of themselves. Then they leave.
The witness of Eugene Peterson
Peterson never delivered a formula for success. He just wrote about pastoral work and how to live it.
The U.S.-Mexico border, where migrants are hunted
What does it do to the body and spirit to be preyed upon constantly?
5 times a day, the WeCroak app reminds me that I’m going to die
I liked this, until I didn’t.
It’s time for me to let go of some books
Someone else should have a turn feeling guilty about not reading Finnegans Wake.
Why our church's centennial was worth celebrating
“The history of a church,” one member wrote in an old scrapbook I found, is “an unfolding pageant of life.”
Softly and tenderly Jesus is cutting a tiny monkey’s hair
I love the Del Parson Jesus. But it's the Monkey Jesus I need now.
Body shaming tears apart the body of Christ
The thin cannot say to the fat, "I have no need of you."
My church changed when ICE took one of our own
Shouting against injustice is harder than lamenting it from afar. But it gets easier.
God's love, our bodies
Turned toward one another in worship, we experience the grace of God's gaze.
In college, I changed my name to Rachel. It didn't stick.
Struggling with whether to abandon my Korean name made me think about the queerness in all of our identities.
A playwright's quest for a missing Pierre Teilhard de Chardin file
The Jesuit archives in Rome didn't know if they had the document. But they said I could come look for it.
I was an elementary-school pickpocket
Thirty years later my petty crime came back to haunt me.
A hospital chaplain's double vision
I routinely saw patients who were racist, sexist, demanding, and cruel. They were also afraid, exhausted, in pain, and helpless.
Church is the perfect place to cry
We embrace uninitiated visitors, rowdy children, and blue jeans. Why not tears?
Richard was always asking for more than I could give
He came to our community meal for years before I realized that I was asking something of him, too.
What doing improv taught me about scarcity and choice
We went on with four performers instead of 10. It was invigorating.