Grace is tricky. Particularly Divine Grace. It is a gift of mercy and love given by God because of God’s own goodness, not because of the particular merit or worth of the person who receives it. I remember the moment (and it was a particular moment in time) when I understood that God’s love, mercy,…
I’ve blogged about my conflicted relationship with Mother’s Day before. Each year I implore my clergy colleagues to stop celebrating Mother’s Day in worship. It is a Hallmark holiday, not a liturgical one. And Mother’s Day is a painful day for many people already. Let’s not make it worse. Anyway. I digress. This Mother’s Day,…
Today I had the privilege of offering the Benediction at the Idaho Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony at the Capitol. Here’s how organizers describe the event: On April 18, 1982, Idaho Governor John Evans signed a proclamation establishing Idaho’s first statewide observation of Holocaust Remembrance. Each year, at ceremonies like this across the nation, the Days of…
The other day after I hiked in the Boise foothills, I joked with some friends: Two paths diverged on the trail And I, I wondered which one Led to my car. New paths are disorienting. And sometimes you wander down the wrong one for a while. I made it back to my car that day,…
You may have noticed the RevGalBlogPal icon on the right side of my blog. I’m proud to be one of the many female clergy who blog and who are connected to each other through the Rev Gals. I have met some of these women IRL (or in the real world) and many more I only…
I’m still thinking about Indiana. I’m glad they came up with a patch to the RFRA law they passed. I recognize gays and lesbians in Indiana (and other states) are still subject to discrimination if they don’t live in communities that have added gender identity or sexual orientation to their human rights codes. (Idaho–Add the…
My college classmate, J J Baskin, died this past week, after a year long battle with cancer. A beautiful tribute to his remarkable 48 years can be found here. When he was first diagnosed, I wrote about it here. In life, in sickness, in death, J J was always showing us how to care for…
Indiana’s Governor Mike Pence signed a law this week for “Religious Freedom Restoration”. On the surface, this is presumably to protect people’s religious expression. Of course, there are no instances to be cited where religious expression has been threatened in this country. There are plenty of illustrations of where people are legally being allowed to…
Because of my work for the Covenant Network, I was interviewed this week about same gender marriage in the Presbyterian Church. I was happy to take the interview, when it was offered. I confess I was a little ambivalent, though, about who wanted to interview me. Cosmo That’s right. Cosmopolitan Magazine wanted to interview a…
Worship this morning at the NEXT Conference was wonderful, and not only because my good friend Brian Ellison preached one heck of a sermon. We also sang two hymns I love. I recognize not everyone gets excited by good hymns, sung well, in the midst of people one loves. But I sure do. Many people…
Glass Overflowing 