*this is first in a series of posts centered on rebuilding our faith after deconstructing. read the intro post first if you haven’t already. in 2004, after one year of counseling classes and a switch to 2 years of spiritual direction courses i earned a certificate in evangelical spiritual guidance (now called soul care & […]
Read Morerebuilding after deconstructing
“see i’m doing a new thing. now it springs up; do you not perceive it? i am making a way in the wilderness, streams in the wasteland.” – isaiah 43:19-20 * * * i know many people who have gone, are going through, or will go through a gut-wrenching, excruciatingly painful and lonely season in […]
Read Morejenga faith
thank you all for your love & honesty about sunday’s post when easter is hard. i am always reminded in these moments how many amazing people are out there feeling similar feelings in different ways. i’m more convinced than ever we need an underground railroad to help each other on the way to freedom. […]
Read More10 ways churches jack people up
i do not think church systems wake up in the morning and think “i’m going to hurt a lot of people today.” intentions are often good. stirrings from God seem clear. visions and strategies make total sense. the desire to make a difference “for the kingdom” is strong. for all kinds of reasons, though, many […]
Read Morethe underground railroad
“if i could have convinced more slaves they were slaves, i could have freed thousands more” – harriet tubman this past weekend i was in portland for a women’s gathering called convergence. it is not a typical conference; there are no speakers, no people getting paid, no flash. just a sacred safe space for a […]
Read Moreyep, i guess i'm a heretic
heretic [her-i-tik] 1. a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church. 2. anyone who doesn’t conform to an established attitude, doctrine, or principle. synonyms: apostate, backslider, recreant, dissenter, skeptic, freethinker. (those made me laugh!) my post up at rachel held […]
Read Moreinsecure christians
this was a guest post i wrote for rachel held evans‘ blog last week (see, i do know how to use capital letters!). i wanted to re-post it here so i had in my archives; plus, some of you may not have seen it or wanted to comment over there because there were loads of […]
Read Morechronic pain, soul care & better theology
“when we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope” – henri nouwen * * * * * one year ago today i had back surgery to […]
Read Morenever quite right
this weekend’s walking wounded: hope for those hurt by the church was a really sweet & beautiful time for me. it was hard, too, because the reality of so much pain & loss in what’s-supposed-to-be-the-safest-place-on-earth really gets under my skin. i will never be able to recreate what happened there but i will try over […]
Read Morethere's a difference between believing & "right belief"
one of the things i love the most about our little wild & crazy refuge community is we can hold the space for a lot of divergent views about the Bible & life & faith. it’s not an easy task, i must say, and sometimes i get asked “so, just what does the refuge believe […]
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