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What's good about Good Friday?  It's a weird name for such a dark day in the Christian calendar.  It is the Friday before Easter when Jesus was crucified.  It is the day the Bible tells us that turned dark by noon and by 3:00 Jesus took his last breath.  It's the day that the people … Continue reading Good Friday?

Last week I wrote about anger but today I want to follow that up with an emotion on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Sometimes we get inundated with all of the problems in the world and in our lives so today I was feeling the need to sit in a place of joy.  God indeed … Continue reading Joy!

She pointed her finger at me and with a great deal of emotion behind her eyes she exclaimed "It's your fault!"  She went on to blame me for the loss of a ministry in our church.  It was ok.  I absorbed her anger.  It wasn't easy.  In fact, it wasn't my "fault" or my lone … Continue reading Righteous or Toxic Anger

I can't get this image out of my mind.  This week our church property had a break in at 2:30AM which was caught on video surveillance.  The man broke in to our property and went to a kitchenette and took a small bag of Doritos, stood there and ate them and then left.  He was … Continue reading A Bag of Chips

Have you ever been rejected by someone because of your gender - something you have no control over at birth?  It's been an interesting week balancing reactions to International Women's Day and hearing a difficult story of gender bias about me. It's made me think about something that if I'm being honest, I really don't … Continue reading Being a Woman

What's the deal with the ashes on the forehead?  Today marks the beginning of the season of Lent in which we spend 40 days preparing for Easter.  It is an ancient season of the church in which the original practice involved fasting for 40 days (not including Sundays which are always Resurrection days) prior to … Continue reading Ashes to ashes…

I'm quite excited about this weekend.  56 women from Centenary are heading out of town for a Women's Retreat together.  We are looking at Jen Hatmaker's book Interrupted: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianly.  It's a great read about how God interrupted Jen's life and sent her family down a completly different trajectory.  Has that ever … Continue reading God Interruptions

This past week I had lunch with my friend and colleague, Rev. Donald Jenkins.  He's black. I'm white.  We both serve United Methodist Churches - he the largest black Methodist Church and I the largest white Methodist Church in the area.  A few months ago we went to breakfast on my side of town - … Continue reading Swimming in the Deep End of Black and White

I've adopted a new stance this year:  Praying and reflecting before I respond.  So much is happening so fast of late that it has sent me on a professional and emotional roller coaster.  I have realized that this just might be the new norm for a while so I have got to find my typically … Continue reading Hospitality, Safety, Political Promises and Jesus

With everything that has been swirling around the news and our church in recent days and weeks, it's been kind of nice to spend some time dwelling on our worship topic for the next few weeks.  I've been dreaming about heaven.  Well, actually, I've been asking questions about heaven and rehashing some of my ongoing … Continue reading Heaven bound or ambivalent?