by Linda Post Bushkofsky— Have you ever thought about Mary as a bold woman? Our Advent memories of Mary’s song of justice have not waned so much that we can’t appreciate her boldness. During Epiphany Mary persists, caring for the infant Jesus as visitors follow the star to find the Savior. How extraordinary is Mary’s […]
–by Susan Sparks Fist fights. Pushing and shoving. Is it a political coup? A protest march? A Bette Midler concert? No. It’s Christmas shopping. One would think that after 2 million years of evolution, human beings would have transcended such nonsense. Sadly, our lengthy holiday shopping lists continue to drive our fight-or-flight genes into a […]
—by Venice R. Williams …she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (Luke 2:7). The manger captivated me as a child. Each year I anxiously awaited the approach of the Advent season and […]
—by Kathryn Haueisen But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Matthew 5:32). …but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:15). For those of us […]
—by Linda Post Bushkofsky It was my first trimester of college, and I sang soprano in the chapel choir. That normally meant weekly rehearsals and the regular Sunday morning commitment. But that fall there were at least four memorial services held in our college chapel (deaths of retired professors, if I recall correctly), and the […]
—by Betty E. Landis As we rounded the curve of the concourse, a child’s cries ricocheted off the tiled bathroom walls, into the carpeted gate area. It was early morning, and the howling was getting louder. Women and children spilled out of the bathroom with expressions of determination more pronounced than the typical I-must-get-to-my-gate look. […]
by Meghan Johnston Aelabouni— In the last few weeks of my grandmother’s life, while she was still alert enough to talk with us, she started recalling old memories: her childhood in New Jersey, seeing the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall and a certain snowy night she spent during World War II decorating the church […]
—by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick When mixing ashes, the trick is to use just a little oil and go slowly. Too much oil, and they become a soupy mess, stuck at the bottom of a greenish-yellow shimmer. If there’s too little, add more just a few drops at a time. The only way I can ever get […]
By Anne Basye— Make a list of twenty things that matter deeply to you: your children, your parents, your congregation…your great grandmother’s tea set… Are you up to 20 yet? Now cross off five of them. Cross off five more. And then another five. “When you’re a refugee, you can only take five things with […]
by Liv Larson Andrews— A wolf killed my uncle’s favorite llama. She was old and weak, with dark brown hair and kind eyes that would follow his truck up the dirt driveway. For many years my uncle has kept eight or nine llamas on his plot of Montana hillside. One winter, this wolf, large and […]