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Fellowship of Saints and Sinners

Leaving Church, by Barbara Brown Taylor, is (somewhat ironically) full of enriching meditations for the church. When she left a twenty-year career as a priest and in essence also “left church,” Brown Taylor says she was compelled to let go of her power and in turn share that power with a priesthood of all believers.…

This week Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” has been my accompaniment in long car rides to visit clients. I saw Springsteen in concert for the first time here in Atlanta several years back, and have since become a big fan. “Born to Run” is for all of us “tramps” (religious misfits) who tire of standing…

I’ve just begun reading fellow author and blogger Leanne Shirtliffe’s Don’t Lick the Minivan: And Other Things I Never Thought I’d Say To My Kids. Today marks the book’s official launch, and while I’ve only read the first chapter, I can already tell that this is a book you will love if you like a…

Yesterday the devastating news poured in over National Public Radio as I was in the kitchen making dinner: four tornadoes, in a string of more expected in and around Moore, Oklahoma, including reports that most of the casualties were children from an elementary school; and that these tornadoes were touching down in the same general…

The soundtrack to the movie, “The Mission”- about a group of Jesuit missionaries in eighteenth century South America who live and die alongside the indigenous Guarani people, when they are slaughtered and their land forcibly taken by Portuguese colonialists- almost always makes me cry. Its refrains seem to embody a life lived passionately for God,…

After finishing Barbara Brown Taylor’s Leaving Church– more thoughts on this wonderful book later- I picked up Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Reading Kaling is my way of grieving the departure of my favorite T.V. show, “The Office.”) Kaling begins her tome to humor for the sake of it, by listing all of…

Every Friday morning I lead a little support group/Bible study/worship service/open confessional/gripe session/gossip fest at a local assisted living center. When the friendly neighborhood “workplace chaplain” shows up, she is greeted usually by the same women. There are the atheist depressive and the New York Jew, both of whom hate each other. (Last time one…

Today marks the official release of friend Emily Wierenga’s book, Mom in the Mirror. Wierenga, a former anorexic, and Dena Cabrera, an expert on eating disorders, teamed up to write a book that tackles issues of post-pregnancy body image for any woman who has struggled in this area. But the book is also a tender…

The following reflections conclude my presentation for the hip Presbyterian Women of Clairmont Presbyterian Church. (The full, multi-media presentation, titled “Losing Our Religion: A Church for Restless Souls?,” is available upon request.): Stand-up comedian David Cross does a routine in which he pokes fun at the experience of being at a Renaissance fair. For those…

This week, in the days and hours leading up to today’s celebration of motherhood:   – both my kids used me as a human napkin without my permission; apparently my shirt makes a good substitute for wet wipes or paper napkins – my son insisted on repeatedly wishing me “Happy Father’s Day!,” with a gleeful,…
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