Easter Monday is always hard. Us pastor folk like to joke about a post- Holy Week hangover. There have been so many hours and so much thought and prayer put into the week that when it’s all over it can be kind of deflating. Normally my family goes camping after Easter as a way to breathe out and celebrate, but… Read more →
Just in time for Lent, I thought I’d share my favorite children’s Bibles and a few storybooks. It’s been a process finding ones I like, so I thought I’d let you benefit from all the good recommendations I’d received, so here are my suggestions. Did I miss any of your favorites? The Jesus Storybook Bible This Bible has great… Read more →
Or everything I wish adults knew I teach to children One incredibly hard day at the children’s hospital when I was a chaplain intern, I was with a family who had just lost two children. The remaining child would start to cry and his father would tell him that superheroes didn’t cry. They were a Christian family so in a… Read more →
This last week has been a hard one in ministry. It’s hard because I know good people who have voted in very different ways. And I know good people who are frightened – frightened for their rights, for their home, for their safety, for their acceptance in the place they call home. Organizations that track hate crimes say that the… Read more →
My husband recently finished a summer unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) which is a group of pastors and chaplains with a supervisor coming together to learn about pastoral care, write verbatims, and work through issues of their family of origin, conflict resolution styles, emotional processing, etc. Generally working through their own ‘Stuff’ so as not to get in… Read more →
I’m a pastor’s kid, a pastor’s spouse, and a pastor, and I’m here to tell you that the church will break your heart. I came into seminary a little disillusioned, swearing that I would never be a pastor. I told them that I was a PK and that I had seen it all — the good, the bad, and the… Read more →
I felt inclined to share this sermon with y’all and was impressed with my newfound ability to imbed the audio file. Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. 2 A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. 3 He… Read more →
My sister looks like my mom but nobody says that I look like her, But when I was younger and finally brave enough to answer the phone, they told me I sounded like her She became a pastor and we pastor’s kids by default, they asked me if I was going to grow up to follow my mom, I told them… Read more →
I just got back from a church planting conference, and it was great. I learned good things, heard some inspiring speakers, and was reminded that I am an anomaly. I am a female pastor, or as they say in the south a ‘lady pastor.’ You know you’re a rare species when they put your gender in front of your title… Read more →
My sister and I asked a lot of questions when we were kids. My parents handled it pretty well. My twin sister even had a whole series of picture books that answered questions – such as “Why is the sky blue?” Other adults in our lives were not as accommodating. We had a friend of the family who when we… Read more →