Three is a Magic Number

I used to get eggs from a friend who had free range chickens in her yard.  The chickens wandered around everyday eating ticks and whatever else they found.  These chickens' eggs were so good—hard shells, dark yoke, and yummy.  I’ve never tasted a store-bought egg, even those marked “free range,” like the eggs from these truly free chickens. The United Methodist Church is a mess.  I don’t need to go into the details.  Most of you know what’s happened.  And if you don’t, a quick google search will fill you in quick.  Like most United Methodists in the US, I’m sad, especially for the pastors who identify as LGBTQI+ and pastors who are leading divided congregations.  Grief.  Frustration. Vulnerability.  It's all part of this.  I must be honest with myself too.  I’m in a safe church, which is mostly of one mind.  As a cis-gender, heterosexual woman I have a ton of privilege in how I frame the debacle of the last few week...

"Does Creator/God actually want us to worship them?" I was recently drawn to this question posed on a friend's Facebook page.  I've grappled with this question several times in my life too, so I offered a comment and now have been thinking about it for the last couple of days.  It's like a little marble rolling around in my brain.     At certain times in my life, I've felt corporate worship--and the resources churches put into it--aren't consistent with God's desire for humans. In fact, at different points, I've actually thought we need to give up on worship, or at least the form its taken over the last 200 years.  I can't actually imagine a God who wants us to use our time and money to lavish praise and adoration on him/her while people are starving and hurting in the world.  Yet, I continue to come back to worship as the most important spiritual practice in my life (which is no surprise for you who have known me over the years). ...

To Rachel Marie, the Person who Taught Me How to be a Friend, Before 2nd grade…  You were simply the girl who wore dresses to school but reminded us, “it is still ok to participate in gym because I have shorts underneath.”   You were the girl who was sensitive enough to cry easily when emotions ran high.   You were the girl who bounced on her tippy-toes down the school halls.   But sometime during 2nd grade, I came to know you as a friend.   I’ve been rummaging through my memories, trying to recall how it happened.   We certainly spent a lot of time together at church, so I’m guessing our road to friendship was the comfortable path of familiarity in each other’s presence.   At some point… You became the person I wanted to stand by in line. You became the person I looked for on the playground. You became the person I had the courage to call and ask, “Do you want to play?   Do you want to have a sleepover?” By 3rd grade,...

Christians from across the US are disgusted with Jeff Sessions and Sarah Sanders' interpretation of Scripture to justify separating children and parents who are seeking asylum.   I am disgusted too.   My facebook feed is filled with people offering a Christ-like, loving alternatives to this twisted interpretation of Scripture.   I can’t offer anything different or new, but if your facebook feed doesn’t look like mine, and you don’t know why Sessions and Sanders are wrong, let me offer you the highlights. 1.        Sanders and Sessions are proof texting.   Don’t know what that is?   Go here . Biblical scholars often point out the dangers of proof texting.   (Side note:   If you do it in seminary, you get a bad grade.   Trust me—I tried it once.)   Why is it bad?   It undermines the authority of the Bible when people cherry pick passages to make points that aren’t necessarily consistent with the overarch...

Let me tell you what happened at my church today. The front of the worship center was filled by kids and youth working on creative projects. While a 2-year-old was dancing up and down the middle aisle, the l ead pastor stopped his sermon to tell all the parents in the room that it was their job to relax, sit back, and enjoy worship without worry. During a musical meditation, in front of everyone , a 4-year-old felt the freedom to run across t he room, up to the choir loft in order to show her mom the project she made.     During the last song, a seven-year-old, took it upon herself to walk up and down the aisles , passing out the creative masterpieces she had made.   People, this is my place.  I’m watching all this today and thinking to myself:  Oh my gosh, I lead this community of faith. I lead this church , where children feel total freedom to be themselves and share themselves with others. During Holy Week, I often blog about...

If you are starting to feel as if you’re on the wrong side of history, it's ok; just get on the right side.   Join the resistance. I know many good, smart people who voted for Trump because they wanted change, they didn’t like Hillary, they figured he’d change once he took office, or they always vote republican no matter what. And I know some of these good, smart people must be looking at this week thinking, “Oh, wow, this isn’t really what I thought it was going to be.   Better keep my head down and my mouth shut.” If you are feeling like you need to cocoon in, resist.  Keep your eyes up.   Stay alert.   Resist the tactics of lies (i.e. crowd sizes and illegal votes) to confuse you on reality.   Resist the tactics of fear mongering to turn you against others because of religion or ethnicity.   If your moral compass is getting confused, the tactics are working.   Resist. Good, smart people: if you need a way out, simply say yo...