it’s been a crazy week around here with my oldest son and my second son (third child) graduating from college and high school on the same day, at the same time, in different states. we made it through, though, and it was filled with all kinds of wonderful memories. in 4 more years, jose and […]
Read More10 tangible ways we can work toward equality in the church.
my dear friend & ministry partner recently attended a local leaders gathering and messaged me with a text that essentially said this: “not one woman speaker, presenter, pray-er, anything-at-all-er. see, i am starting to notice it!” i wrote him back, “yep, it’s real, and it sucks and thanks for noticing.” also this week i heard […]
Read Morewhen mother's day is hard
this upcoming sunday is a happy day for a lot of women i know. breakfast in bed, no chores, flowers, handmade cards. i never want to dismiss the awesomeness of mothers and that they get a day of extra-special love for all their hard work day in and day out. for me, with 5 kids, […]
Read Morewhat if…
i was at a really lovely meeting a few weeks ago with a bunch of pastors, and it was wonderfully hopeful except for one thing–there were only three female pastors and a whole lot of white male ones, and not one person of color. even though i know this is reality, it still always startles […]
Read More10 ways we can build bridges instead of bomb them
today is the april synchroblog and a theme i am really glad we’re tackling together: bridging the divides. the schism within christianity between those of a more liberal persuasion and those from a more conservative one keep getting bigger & bigger. as a post-evangelical mutt, i notice how hard it is to engage in these […]
Read Morepost-traumatic church syndrome is Real (and worthy of a capital letter)
there’s a new book coming out later this year by reba riley called “post-traumatic church syndrome: a humorous memoir of healing, hope, and 30 religions before 30”. i don’t know much about the book yet, but i am really looking forward to reading it. i do know that the facebook group called “post-traumatic church syndrome” has […]
Read Morethe unexpected.
yesterday was palm sunday and we had a really fun & sweet palm sunday dinner together at the refuge, one of our annual traditions. one of the reasons i like this particular day in holy week is it’s the time when we remember the anticipation and excitement of Jesus’ riding into jerusalem on a donkey […]
Read Morethe difference between "cultivating communities" and "building churches"
i originally wrote this post in 2010, and it’s part of down we go. but in the past couple of weeks i’ve had some interesting conversations that reminded me of it and i thought i’d pare it down and re-post it. it’s funny, still, after these years, my thought is pretty much the same except […]
Read Morehealers, bridge-builders, and community cultivators
it was a great weekend at transform 2014 in san diego. it was lovely & inspiring hanging out with old friends & making some new ones, and on my middle-of-the-night-and-trying-to-stay-awake drive from san diego to LAX to catch a morning standby flight that ended up getting cancelled, i had a lot of time to reflect. and […]
Read Morenew life through nonviolent communication
this month’s synchroblog is called new life and where we are experiencing it in our lives right now. as soon as i get the link list, i’ll post it at the bottom of this post and you can read other bloggers sharing stories of new life, too. when i get a topic prompt, sometimes i like […]
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