As a child, I learned that we were among the first settlers of this country. It wasn’t until college that I began to piece together a different story for myself. Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Love or Betrayal?
On a daily basis, we’re invited to be voyeurs into the misery of the lives of others, seeing the tragedy and horror of the helpless, the homeless and the hopeless. Then, we move on to the next headline. In the UK, the listing order of the tragedy depends on its nature and where in the… Read More
The Pastoral is Political
The road signs are blooming in our neck of the woods. Early voting has begun for the primaries which will decide who we vote for in the fall general elections. It’s been an interesting process. For the first time, both of our young adult progeny are informed voters. They are seriously evaluating candidates’ literature. Their interest… Read More
The Pastoral Is Political: The Politics of “Just”
I have served almost exclusively in small-town and rural congregations in the Upper Midwest. Each of those congregations has a quilting group that makes dozens, sometimes hundreds, of quilts each year. Today I’m thinking about two of those groups. In one group, one of the members made it her special ministry to cut up the… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Suffer the Children
I mean, it was fine. I was twelve or thirteen, young enough to get a little anxious, old enough not to cry about it, wondering where on earth my father had got to. Every Saturday morning, he would drive me into the city for my piano lesson. He would drop me off, park the car,… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Sneaky Ninja Jedi Pastor
Although I know many young women who are pastors, lets be honest, that is my world, the perception is that these pastors are few and far between. When I was in seminary, 8 years ago, there were more female students than male. My mother was a pastor. Its not unusual for me to see pastors… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Entirely Normal
“Remember,” the occasional social media post urges, “this is not normal.” The raging rhetoric of an elected official is not normal. The militarization of police is not normal. The peddling of political & financial influence is not normal. The forceful separation of brown & Black children from their parents is not normal. The level of… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Robbed of Full Humanity
Note: many of the articles linked to this article contain profanity, slurs, and triggers. In 1915, my grandfather was driven from his homeland and sentenced to die at the age of six. His crime was being born an Armenian in Turkey. American Ambassador Henry Morganthau, Sr. asked Talaat Pasha, lead architect of the Armenian Genocide,… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Justice Prayer
I came home around lunchtime. I drove myself home, opened the fridge and wondered what I would gather for a meal. I sat down and turned on my computer, put some music on, and looked out the window at the crisp, dreary day. I don’t normally take such time to reflect on how simple yet… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Butt out Donald
Dear Donald, may I call you Donald? You don’t seem to mind getting familiar with people…just excuse me if I don’t get too close… You have an awful lot to say about an awful lot of things, not much of which makes sense, if I may say so. This last week you attended the NRA… Read More
