This blog is written for my occasional series, “Things Yoga Has Taught Me About Church.” You make friends fast when you line up at dawn in your spandex triathlon gear on a gorgeous, but chilly, Sunday summer morning. Having the unfortunate luck of being last in the...
I got angry. While attending the Faith Forward Gathering a few weeks ago, Dr. Daniel White Hodge, Assistant Professor of Youth Ministry at North Park University, recounted a recent experience he had in which he had been pulled over by police. Although he wasn’t...
The girls became blurs of black and white ribbon, green gingham and white lace as they twirled, leapt and frolicked around the folk art communion table. Their slightly askance pirouettes melded seamlessly into the upbeat prelude played by the worship band just in...
This blog series, Family Ministry: Not Just for the Christian Right Anymore, explores how family-based faith formation ministry will help progressive Christian values take root first in homes and then throughout our communities and the world in order to spread justice...
This blog series, Family Ministry: Not Just for the Christian Right Anymore, explores how family-based faith formation ministry will help progressive Christian values take root first in homes and then throughout our communities and the world in order to spread justice...
This blog series, Family Ministry: Not Just for the Christian Right Anymore, explores how family-based faith formation ministry will help progressive Christian values take root first in homes and then throughout our communities and the world in order to spread justice...
Family ministry. There. I said it out loud. And I still call myself a progressive Christian.When I use this phrase among my beloved fellow progressive Christians, they stare politely and intently at me (because we ARE taught to be tolerant after all), and at the same...
This is part of my Listening in Lent series in which I reflect on my experience of practicing listening during this holy season. It started with my hip. That may seem like a weird thing to listen to. Other than the first-morning pops and groans, what sound does your...
Although I rarely got in trouble in school as a kid, the few detentions I did get in high school were for talking too much in study hall. After that, my mother always made me take an extra book to read during those times when I was done with my homework and had spare...
Following the Light is a series of blogs that point to the brights spots where I see renewal and rebirth in the world of religion and spirituality. The series will continue through the Christian season of Epiphany. I distinctly remember reading the Bible for the first...
I’m not sure what makes someone at the ripe, old age of 17 think these kinds of things. I was just that kind of teenager, I guess. I have a really distinct memory of resolving when I was about 17, to live my life without regret. For me, that meant always taking...
Embracing loss in Lent can help you -- and the church -- move forward.
A Lenten AdjustmentMy blog appearing on Iowa Conference UCC website.
Nicole's January Faith Formation Forum Video
My thoughts on Iowa Conference UCC staff blogMy thoughts on how relationships take precedence over big, fancy church program.