This past weekend, we lost a sister. Rachel Held Evans was a woman of valor. My thoughts went to Exodus—as they often do these days. // A woman stands near the reeds, holding a baby boy. She lives on the right side of the Nile, under Pharaoh’s roof and patriarchal purview. The boy cries out. […]
Liberating Hagar
by on April 8, 2019 Leave a Comment
Hagar gets the short end of the stick. Sunday School lessons describe her position as a servant, waiting hand and foot on Abraham and Sarah in Canaan. When barrenness got the best of Sarah, she eyed Hagar who was ripe for the picking. So she sent the servant into Abraham’s tent. This is how Ishmael, […]
Kneading Enough, A Picture of Empowerment
by on March 7, 2019 Leave a Comment
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It […]
Glance with Compassion and Honor, Not Contempt
by on February 11, 2019 Leave a Comment
2019. Tension brewed like a bubbling witch’s cauldron on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. A handful of Black Hebrew Israelites yelled at a bunch of high school students who meandered over after participating in the March for Life earlier that day. The students took the bait, responding to taunts with words and gestures of […]
Our Confidence is in the Shalom-Maker
by on January 14, 2019 1 Comment
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. In the early days of the New Year I stumbled upon Psalm 46. I was thinking about how God disarms our violence, and I landed on this psalm on this January morning. But here the song—for it is a song that celebrates the […]
