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Advent prayer: Wisdom
Continuing with the theme of “Advent poem/prayers from 2021 that I’m still feeling”… The word for this one is “wisdom.” Wisdom God, There is wisdom in our souls, deep down. There is so much we don’t know. We carry some wisdom and we need other humans for the rest. We need the whole of creation…
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Advent prayer: Open
Last Advent season, in 2021, I wrote a bunch of poem/prayers, responding to different daily one-word prompts offered by my church. This Advent season felt like a good time to revisit these prayers and share some of the ones that still resonate. This one is on theme: open. Open God, I want to be open…
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New column at Patheos: Always Re-forming
Hi friends, I wanted to let you know that a couple weeks ago I started blogging at Patheos. I’ve got my own column, called Always Re-forming. (It’s a sort of a play on the motto of the early Protestant Reformers: the reformed church will always be reforming. There’s more background, context, and words of welcome…
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Reflections on 20 years of friendship
A close friend from high school passed away unexpectedly in an accident the Sunday before last, and I’ve been thinking about them a lot. I sat down a few days ago and wrote what turned out to be over 5000 words of memories and reflections on their life and our friendship. I’ll spare you the…
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Out there on the web: asking for what we need, and Christians with questions
Hi friends, there have been a couple additions to the “out there on the web” category of things since I last posted an update. I Didn’t Know How to Ask (Or What Would Have Happened if I Had) (Guest blog for Rose Madrid Swetman) This is a guest post as part of Rose’s series on…
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Super chill book review part 2: The Will to Change (bell hooks)
This is part 2 (of 2) of some reflections on bell hooks’ The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Here’s part 1 if you missed it or want a refresher. The Will to Change was also very much on my mind as I was writing this essay, posted yesterday at Feminism & Religion: The…
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Super chill book review part 1: The Will to Change (bell hooks)
I started reflecting on bell hooks’ The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (Washington Square Press, 2004), and it got kind of long. So, here’s part 1! In all the “super chill book reviews” I’ve done so far (and I believe I’ve done twenty now in total—check ‘em out here if you like), I…
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Super chill book review: Atlas of the Heart (Brene Brown)
Given how long it took to get a copy—that is, one of 114 copies—of Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart (Random House 2021) from the local library system, I’m going to venture a guess that rather a lot of people are reading it or have read it recently. (Also, it’s a TV series? I haven’t…
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Out there on the web: food security & well-intentioned patriarchs
Hi there. I realized I’m not always great about making sure everyone who might want to read things knows that these things exist. Particularly since I became a very late adopter of Instagram a little over a year ago, I use IG a lot (feel free to follow @lizcoolj and @postevangelicalprayers). But I know not…
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On wealth, poverty, and caring without being overwhelmed (reflections on Luke 16:19-31)
16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 16:20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 16:21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and…
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