To blog, or not to blog, that is the question. At least, it has been for me these past few months. I started my blog back in 2012, and for many years, I wrote every week. Then maybe a year or so ago, it started to be a little less often–maybe every other week, and…… Continue reading To Blog or Not to Blog….
Category: Social Issues
What Decade is this, Anyway?
One of my favorite shows these past few years has been “Call the Midwife.” It’s a BBC show that follows a lovely, interesting group of midwives and nuns in the East End of London. I find the characters really compelling and engaging, and the storylines thoughtful and poignant. In the course of the different seasons…… Continue reading What Decade is this, Anyway?
Practical Lessons from the Gay Rights Movement
So, I listened to this really interesting podcast yesterday, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to share it and invite you to listen, too. (Listen to it here: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/03/709567750/radically-normal-how-gay-rights-activists-changed-the-minds-of-their-opponents). It’s about gay rights, and it discusses the fact that, in the United States, there has been a relatively rapid change in both…… Continue reading Practical Lessons from the Gay Rights Movement
The Light of International Women’s Day
Happy International Women’s Day! All day I have been thinking about all the beautiful, smart, talented women who surround me–and have surrounded me–and I have been feeling blessed and empowered to stand among them. In that spirit, my thoughts and heart were lifted today as seminarian Tamika Jancewicz led a really wonderful chapel service…… Continue reading The Light of International Women’s Day
Women, Religion, Violence and Power
The title of this blog post is the subtitle of Jimmy Carter’s latest book (well, unless he has cranked out another one in the last year or two–which wouldn’t surprise me!), A Call to Action. It came out in 2014, and mine is autographed–I will always wait in line for Jimmy Carter! I finally got…… Continue reading Women, Religion, Violence and Power
The Parliament of the World’s Religions
I just returned from The Parliament of the World‘s Religions and I’m still processing the whole experience. It was my third time to go, and I think this was the best time yet, because I had six Gettysburg College students with me. I was so proud of them: they engaged the whole experience with enthusiasm,…… Continue reading The Parliament of the World’s Religions
Who Do You Say that I Am?
No, this post is not about Jesus’ identity, but about the identity of roughly 1.4 million Americans who identify as transgender. The story broke on Sunday that the Trump administration is seeking to more narrowly define gender as something immutable and unchangeable, determined exclusively and definitively by genitalia at birth. [Read about it here: Transgender Could…… Continue reading Who Do You Say that I Am?
Reflections on “Just Mercy”
The first year students at Gettysburg College are all reading Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is a lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that works to defend those most in need of an advocate, especially those wrongfully convicted–including those on death row. It is a powerful…… Continue reading Reflections on “Just Mercy”
Emmett Till, in 2018
There’s a new podcast that I have started listening to called “This Day in History Class.” It’s from one of the hosts of “Stuff You Missed in History Class,” one of my favorite podcasts, and it has become kind of a stand-in for “The Writer’s Almanac”–that podcast was hosted by Garrison Keillor, and it was…… Continue reading Emmett Till, in 2018
Recent Perversions
According to the first online dictionary that comes up with a Google Search [the extent of my research], the first definition of “perversion” is the following: “the alteration of something from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended.” It is only the second definition that references…… Continue reading Recent Perversions
Happy Lutheran 