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Rejoicing in the Midst of Sorrow
If you attend a church that observes the liturgical calendar, this weekend you may have noticed the sanctuary decorated with flowers, clergy clad in pink vestments, and the organist may have been allowed her chance at that instrumental solo she has been longing to launch into. But why? Aren’t we observing Lent—a season for the…
Surviving an Ungrateful Holiday Season
Being together for family holidays when things have not been okay in your world can be, well, not awesome. Everything is heightened, and there is already enough pressure for everything to be perfect. You want to be together. You want to be anywhere else. How can you be present when most of the situation makes you want to hide?
On Easter and Suffering
A poor carpenter from Nazareth was put to death this week, died, was buried, and rose from the dead. Even though Christians do a lot of thinking and talking about tombs on Easter weekend, the story does not end there. It might be the most dramatic element – on the other side, nothing will be…
Advent
I have had two untouchably perfect moments in my life. One was running down the aisle with my new husband on our wedding day. And the other was when they put baby Zach in my arms, and our eyes met, and it was like a conspiracy of perfect adoration. Two months ago, out of the…
A Rhythm for an Uncertain Week
So it’s Saturday. WHO KNEW?! And Toban is using the power washer (classic mennonite stress-cleaning) and Zach is in a tree holding a bucket that, when last I checked, had a snake and a skink in it. Who he claims “are friends and knew each other already.” Great, great. Not entirely clear what garden snakes…
What It Feels Like to be Accused of Murder
On Monday, I started teaching again for the first time. On Wednesday, the hospital tried to hospitalize me for low blood pressure. On Friday, I got a cold and stopped sleeping. On Saturday, I was accused of murder. And my body fully accepted this as normal. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? A police…
