My husband’s family is very musical, and we spent much of the weekend singing this and that, or listening to them jam on various instruments. Kevin, some of his brothers, and their uncle prepared a rousing performance of “Bamfield’s John Vanden” by The Bills, and it was the highlight of the musical festivities. [thanks to…
Welcome to my new home on the interwebz! I’ll be posting here and retiring “The Nest Egg” for good. It has served its purpose and outgrown its name and original focus. I never really explained that name, “The Nest Egg,” very well, because it was quickly outdated, though still personally relevant. It was the name…
I’ve been stewing on this one for a long time. It’s controversial. It’s probably something we don’t want to admit that we do. But I think it needs to be named and noticed. Within the church and western culture, our assumptions about gender roles create some tensions between the personality of an individual and the ideal…
Sometimes I write about my experiences as the oldest child from a big “Quiverfull” family and growing up in a church that was spiritually abusive. My story is my own and it provides the context for talking about hurtful assumptions or disturbing teachings which I sometimes write against. As the guinea pig of a generation…
It’s been a quiet week for me online. I’ve been working ahead on some things, and hopefully I’ll have some more regular posts up next week. While this is a few days late, here’s some great reading to ease the end of your weekend. The Gifts and Benefits of Doubt, Experimental Theology Preaching Grace is Risky…
Congratulations to Jared and Heidi! My sister eloped with her red-haired man this morning, and I’m so happy for them.
Sometimes I wonder how I sound to the rest of the evangelical world, to those who weren’t subjected to fringe patriarchal teachings from grace-forgetting complementarians, those who never fought the fear that comes with legalism from your pulpit, those who don’t have to shake the guilt hangover from their childhood churches or Christian communities. Those…
We hide our gazes in blue-lit boxes, hurtling into the dark, dutifully ignoring the scene if we pass daylight, sliding our glances away from the searing contact of other eyes. After my morning meditation of group isolation I rise to the fifth floor and wash the subway off my hands, Having passed through the brood…
I feel like I should have posted more this week. I know I wanted to write another Immodesty Rail post, and I wanted to tell you about the author readings and book signings I’ve been to this last month (Lorin Stein, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins). But it’s been an exhausting week, and some people took…
Worldview textbooks and classes bother me. They were good for addressing my middle school cravings for knowledge and understanding of the outside world and how other cultures and religions understood God or the numinous. But they left me hanging. I have always desired to know more. I was the restless twelve year old who complained…