by Dr. Jennifer Hockenbery The recent news stories around the events at Cornell are reverberating. They bring up our public memory of so many other high-profile rape events. They bring up private memories for almost every woman and girl of their own rapes or the rapes of their family members and friends. Because I have […]
I first wrote these words in 2020. That essay came almost 15 years since Tarana Burke first began to say #metoo as an expression of solidarity and support for survivors of sexual assault, especially women of color. #Metoo gained momentum in 2017 as Harvey Weinstein faced charges and received the justice deserved for his abusive […]
by the Rev. Becca Ehrlich Life transitions and change are inevitable. Read that sentence again. As you read that sentence, notice what is happening in your body. Are there any body sensations you become aware of: tension, lightness, heaviness, experiences of heat or cold, or something else? Is there movement to those sensations—are they moving […]
by the Rev. Becca Ehrlich When I was an intern at a congregation, I took part in an annual tradition called Confirmation Camp. For one week in the summer, the local Lutheran conference would take over half of a Christian camp in the Adirondack Mountains. The students prepared for confirmation by learning, growing spiritually, and […]
by the Rev. Dr. Ralen M. Robinson Not every voice deserves a seat at our table. So what do we do with the voices that create a cacophony of doubt? We must discern between feedback that forms us and voices that leave us empty. Not everyone deserves space in our spirit or the right to […]
by the Rev. Emily Heitzman It is really hard to be a preteen or teenager today. I unfortunately know this because as a pastor who works with youth, I have seen this firsthand. I’m not saying that it wasn’t difficult to be that age. I received my fair share of unrealistic and unhealthy messages about […]
by the Rev. Dr. Ralen M. Robinson I recently received some harsh feedback that stuck with me. It stuck with me longer than I hate to admit. It came after worship, flippantly, casually, like it didn’t matter, but it stayed. It weighed on me; it made me reevaluate who I am. This isn’t the first […]
by the Rev. Kristen Glass Perez “May today be your peaceful day.” These words have stayed with me since this past winter, when I had the extraordinary opportunity to journey alongside the Walk for Peace. Nearly two dozen Buddhist monks from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas, set out last October […]
by Saint Browder These are scary times for the United States. The language of division grows louder, institutions are tested in ways they haven’t been in generations, and the public sphere feels increasingly tense and uncertain. In moments like this, it is tempting to focus only on the loudest expressions of political extremism — the […]
by Lee Ann Pomrenke We know when we have it, and we know when we don’t. And we know it’s not something we can muster up when it just isn’t there. During the cold, long nights of winter, after the excitement of Christmas and Epiphany has passed, our lack of passion can be all too […]