The Treasonous Act of Small Children Waving Branches
For twenty minutes yesterday, young children and palm branches surrounded me on all sides. Like many churches, we have a Palm Sunday procession to mark the beginning of Holy Week. When I dropped my Kindergartner at her class, I offered to stay and help. My...
Airplane Lessons: An Exercise in Loving my Neighbor
A few years ago I boarded an airplane for a 12+ hour flight. After settling into my (middle) seat, the passenger in the aisle seat next to me arrived and started settling in herself. Like most international travelers, she was armed with a few books, a few...
Advent, Hope, and the Chicago Cubs: a Devotion on Devotion
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12) Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) With the dark...
Long Days of Small Things…We Have a Cover!
Friends, it has been a joy this past year to write my first book, Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline (NavPress, 2017). The book is finished (my end of it anyway) and getting ready to be sold March of 2017...which suddenly doesn't feel that...
Let’s Feed The Light
With a month left in this election, I'm so very tired. We all are. There is so much hatred and fear in the world, and if we didn't know that before, we know it now. Without a doubt, if we're to do any good we must learn to look bravely and deeply into the...
Springtime Girl
This morning after everyone else had left, S and I finished getting ready for preschool. We found matching socks, and braided her hair. With her backpack on, I saw my big girl off. At lunch time, she jumped out of the neighbor's car and ran to house, backpack...
Making Things New
Today I spent some quality time with the Creator. I know! Audacious thought. Ridiculous, pompous notion. True none the less. We sat silently on my front porch, drinking tea, listening to the unmistakable sound of gentle wind rustling through dried leav…
Towers, Geneologies, and a Plan: Genesis 9-11
There is a tremendous amount to unpack in Genesis 1-11. Each individual story is rich in ancient theological meaning and nuance, obscured by our modern day perspective but there none the less. The stories taken together form a stunning cycle - God’s good plan, our...
Noah’s Flood: God Changes His Mind
(Continuing my series on the Hebrew Scriptures) The story of the Great Flood has had an incredibly long run. It was a wildly popular story in several ancient cultures well before the dawn of recorded history, and it clearly remains a blockbuster to this day. The...
Cain & Abel, and the Crouching Predator
After Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden, their story continues into the next generation. Two sons are born to the couple, first Cain and then Abel. Abel becomes a shepherd, while Cain farms the ground. Each brings an offering of their labors to YHWH, but the...
