By Amy Butler “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.” The woman’s cigarette-roughened voice, harsh and grating, echoed off the limestone of the National Portrait Gallery building. You could hear the wistful tone in her song, mixed together with…

By Amy Butler In worship this summer we’ve spent our time revisiting some of the basics of faith and practice in our life as a church. Each week we’ve included a ritual of some sort in worship, intended to help…

By Amy Butler This week the Lord’s Prayer and the national budget crisis crossed paths in my mind.   I thought more this week about the Lord’s Prayer than I have in a long, long time. That’s kind of a…

By Amy Butler I finally went to see a Harry Potter movie. I liked the books, just like everyone else, but may be a function of my age that I just can’t keep the story straight. Or maybe it’s the…

By Amy Butler Somebody at breakfast warned me about the Batu Caves, huge caves home to a Hindu holy place. The darkness there is too heavy, the feelings of oppression and fear too great: you won’t like it there, she…

By Amy Butler What am I meant to do with my life? What am I called to do? What is the deep and real meaning and purpose of my life — my destiny, the reason I was created in the…

By Amy Butler On Facebook this week some members of my church posted this phrase they saw on a church sign: “Visitors Welcome. Members Expected.” Another church member commented: “Pastor Amy would love this.” It’s true: I do. That Facebook…

By Amy Butler Well, another Rapture prediction has come and gone and I don’t know about you, but I’m still here. This time, everybody seems to be talking about it, from conservative Christian friends, to non-believers, to my friends who…

By Amy Butler Language study, I understand, comes with ease to some people. I have great admiration for and not a small amount of jealousy toward people who can pick up a new language with ease and flair. I recently…