Life of Faith
Persia’s first American missionaries
Justin Perkins and Charlotte Bass suffered multiple losses during their missionary years. Was it worth it?
October 16, Ordinary 29C (Luke 18:1–8)
Luke says this story is about prayer. But the widow keeps asking for justice.
Post-evangelical healing
Charles Marsh writes beautifully about the anxiety instilled by his childhood faith—and the therapy it took to overcome it.
October 9, Ordinary 28C (Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7)
It’s not that Babylon was backward. But it wasn’t home.
Grandparenting with faith
Marilyn McEntyre and Shirley Showalter are grounded and experienced guides.
Who’s responsible for coincidence?
Our spiritual lives would grow if we could step beyond the false notion that God arranges our circumstances.
We need ritual for our collective grief
Going through the motions together can move us toward healing.
Finding church after religious trauma
Brooke Petersen gathers the stories of eight queer Christians who left churches—and found new ones.
Labor, land, and racism
Fifty years later, Wendell Berry revisits the themes he introduced in The Hidden Wound.
September 18, Ordinary 25C (Jeremiah 8:18–9:1)
Jeremiah has to learn to name the reality that is right in front of him.
A church made of dust
After each service, I sweep up the dirt, specks of plastic, and tendrils of hair.
Failing and falling
At a workshop, I was asked to list my failures. The experience has stayed with me.
September 11, Ordinary 24C (Luke 15:1–10)
Sometimes in ministry you lose precious things.
Following the long shadow of America’s original sin
Theologian Alison Benders takes an online pilgrimage through our country’s racial history.
Personhood beyond personalization
Technology can’t give us what we really want, says Andy Crouch.
Can these stones live?
Some Indigenous traditions suggest that rocks are sentient. What does this mean for how we humans relate to them?
September 4, Ordinary 23C (Jeremiah 18:1–11)
There is nothing markedly sacred about the potter’s house.
The way to change history is to live out your story
When seismic shifts unseat us, it’s the ordinary that puts us back together again.
After my friend’s suicide, my theology was in shock
I’ve been offering my tangled knots of questions and memories as prayers.