When it comes to developing friendships, are you using building blocks or wrecking balls? If you want to build strong, authentic, and intimate connections, you need to avoid the three wrecking balls that will destroy a friendship. LONGING FOR FRIENDSHIP Over the past few years, I have had the wonderful opportunity and privilege to speak…
Several years ago, I was pregnant with my third child and in the middle of a move. This required packing and transferring a household from one place to another with two toddler boys in tow. The trouble was, I couldn’t stand up for more than a minute or two without running to the bathroom (thanks,…
The house is still filled with boxes. Sharpie notations give clues to their contents, guiding me through the scavenger hunt to plates, metal spoons, and the internet router. My daughter’s little fingers rip at the packing tape, still too young to realize a loosening lid will open to reveal treasures within. A new house. New…
The four of us talked late into the night, enjoying a rare weekend together without our families. We laughed, we went deep, we teased and challenged one another. We were in the mountains of northern Georgia, celebrating 20 years of friendship that had started when we were first-year college students. When we met at 18,…
And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” Mark 5:34 It’s been over 20 years, but I can still recall the sound of the small voice reaching out to us from the back seat of the car. “Mr. Rowe, what can I call you?” Puzzled, my…
Nobody can find strength to resist temptation, perseverance in purity, and lasting forgiveness without community. Shepherds, teachers, mentors, leaders: You have people under your care who are engaging in self harm to externalize pain and contemplating suicide to end pain because they are being crushed beneath suffering and sin. Female sexuality has historically made spiritual…
The tables were all set with festive tablecloths and centerpieces, and light twinkled from votive candles as we awaited the arrival of our guests. Christmas was in the air. As more than 40 of our close friends gathered in the warm Florida December evening to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I addressed the group to…
I keep thinking about bodies lately. My own as I pick something I can control, scrubbing my kitchen floor furiously, convinced that keeping it clean can fix things, change things, make things better. I think about my mother-in-law Nancy’s body, beginning its swift descent back to the earth. I think about what it means to…
Throughout my 27-year marriage, my husband has encouraged me to get away at least once a year. I typically drive to a friend’s cottage, heavy laden with more books than any human could possibly get through in three days and spend my time reading, walking along the beach and praying. It restores my soul and…
I teach theology and Bible at Nyack College, a Christian school. I was a pretty run-of-the-mill vanilla prof until I found a passion for Christian history and liturgy. I soon realized a call to bring unity among the three Christian traditions (Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic) through mutual understanding. That’s when I started teaching what…
We’ve all heard news stories about “free-range children,” those unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on who you ask) children who are allowed to BE OUTSIDE WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS! One news story involved 6- and 10-year-old siblings. Their parents dropped them at a nearby park with instructions to be home for dinner at 6:00 p.m. When 6:00…
We’ve been invited to a church member’s home for a meal just three times in three years. As an accidental experiment in the Colorado city where we moved three years ago, we visited 17 churches, landing at 2 for about a year, 3 for a month each, and visited the others once or twice. Not…
I edged to the front of my folding chair, bobbing and weaving my head to find a view through the heads in front of me. “Do you have a child there?” an older woman sitting next to me asked with a slight accent as she pointed toward the stage. “I do!” I beamed. “She’s there,…
I started listening to NPR a number of years ago because I felt a need to hear a different voice, to listen well, and to give consideration to viewpoints that I did not share. Since then, as the tone of challenging conversations around race and politics have become more shrill and as opinions have become…