Family

Challenge yourself with these stories and reflections about loving both our biological families and our sisters and brothers in Christ.

Building Advent traditions

Building Advent traditions

Every Advent, mom would drag the yule log out of storage and place it on the kitchen table. She’d made the dusty birch centerpiece herself, complete with greenery and holes to anchor the Advent candles. Although I can no longer remember if we lit one or all the...

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Getting it right (or not) with kids’ faith questions

Getting it right (or not) with kids’ faith questions

“Will God and Jesus ever die?” “When will Jesus come back to earth?”  “Why did God make flowers?” “Is everyone in heaven a grown-up?” “Why can’t people come back from heaven?” Eight years ago, I opened a Word document to record the questions my kids asked me about God...

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Radical hospitality

Radical hospitality

I recently returned from a remote village in rural northwest Alaska. I’d been attending a regional Lutheran conference there. The highlight—aside from hours of singing gospel hymns and participating in business meetings—was visiting people in their homes and accepting...

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When we know better, we do better

When we know better, we do better

A while back, one of my children was struggling with some behaviors that I thought might indicate a mental health issue. It created a challenging situation at home; it upset our daily life. I didn’t know where to turn. First, I talked to his elementary school teacher....

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Let’s eat!

Let’s eat!

By Lisa A. Smith “Who knew that the hardest part of being an adult was figuring out what to cook for dinner every single night of your life until you die?” asks a popular social media meme. As a parent, I feel this deep in my bones, especially after I’ve chopped,...

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What makes home holy

What makes home holy

By Erin Strybis— When I think of home, I imagine my childhood bedroom. With sky blue walls and matching sheer curtains, it was my oasis. As a shy, introverted child, I relished my alone time. Sometimes I’d lie on my queen bed and pretend the pastel ceiling was a...

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I’m a Martha. My kitchen is my holy place.

I’m a Martha. My kitchen is my holy place.

By Elise Seyfried I AM NO STRANGER TO SACRED SPACES. For 20 years I worked at a church where, several times each week, I’d leave my office, slip into the sanctuary, and sit in welcome, peaceful silence for a few minutes. On frantic Sundays, I had a hard time feeling...

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All in good time

All in good time

What I love about Ecclesiastes by Anne Basye MY MOM KEEPS A TO-DO LIST. It shows everything she is going to do the rest of her life. When my son wrote these words in a long-ago grade school essay, I was pleased... and uneasy. His assignment was to recommend me for a...

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Clinging and letting go

Clinging and letting go

by Lisa A. Smith I’VE BEEN A MOTHER since the week of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I was on a work-related training trip out of state, my heart already full of emotion, when I first heard about the shooting. My husband and I had been trying to start a...

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Rocking chair prayers

Rocking chair prayers

Sacred time at the back of the sanctuary by Kimberly Knowle-Zeller Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. —1 Thessalonians 5:16‑18 Excerpted from The Beauty of Motherhood:...

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And why has this happened to me?

And why has this happened to me?

The visit of Mary to Elizabeth by Audrey Novak Riley MARY SET OUT AND WENT WITH HASTE to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women! And why has this happened to me,...

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Feet tell the story

Feet tell the story

by Jennifer M. Ginn A mom living, and dying, with purpose MY MOTHER WAS ALWAYS on the way somewhere, her heels clicking briskly across the church parking lot or her Daniel Green slippers clomping on hardwood floors toward the kitchen. She moved with purpose you could...

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Moms and miracles

Moms and miracles

by Elizabeth Hunter CAN YOU REMEMBER A TIME when a mom or another mother figure turned and gave you “the look”? That look may have communicated something like, I’m not worried about what you just said. And you are going to help me with this now. At the wedding at Cana...

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Light in the darkness

Light in the darkness

by Lisa A. Smith WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I thought the Ten Commandments weren’t for me. I considered myself a responsible and rule-keeping kid, and these rules seemed so easy. Since I hadn’t murdered anyone, stolen anything, worshiped Babylonian gods or coveted anyone’s...

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Our holy longing

Our holy longing

Making my peace with death and life By Elise Seyfried MANY YEARS AGO, on an elementary school field trip to a local nature center with my daughter Julie, I volunteered to put my hand under an electron microscope for observation by the class. What on earth was I...

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A memory you can eat

A memory you can eat

How food helps me remember by Cara Strickland WHAT DOES MEMORY TASTE LIKE? For me, it’s an artichoke leaf dipped in butter, a glimmer of what is to come when I get to the center—the heart my mom would always prepare for me, cutting off all the green fuzz. It’s a fish...

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A recipe for welcome

A recipe for welcome

She escaped Saigon, found a home in Ohio and today teaches Sunday school in Texas. by Kathryn Haueisen HOURS BEFORE SAIGON FELL in April 1975, Eva Nguyen’s family crowded into the last C-130 cargo plane to airlift people out as the North Vietnamese approached the...

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Sharing our gifts

Sharing our gifts

by Linda Post Bushkofsky MY FATHER WAS A WELL-LOVED rural letter carrier, so when it came to Christmas, people on his route would remember him with all kinds of gifts. Throughout December, Dad would receive homemade fudge and fruitcake, bottles of aftershave, boxes of...

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