I was 6 years old the first time I was told I couldn’t do something because I was a girl. I could be a teacher or a nurse when I grew up, but I couldn’t play on that team and I couldn’t do that thing because…
The carol that won’t stop singing a subversive song of hope
It tends to be the same every year: Soon after the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers is consumed, I sit down at the piano to plunk through an archaic collection of Christmas carols. Without fail, “O Holy Night” has long…
Blue Christmas isn’t just for Elvis
My understanding of Blue Christmas has changed over the years. Growing up, the only version of “Blue Christmas” I knew was the one that involved holding a wooden spoon up to my lips and crooning along to Elvis in front…
82-year-old woman’s faith led her to fight against gun violence
When asked why she joined the fight against gun violence, Paula Hawthorn’s answer was simple: “Because God told me to.” A staunch Episcopalian who doesn’t tend to speak or hear directly from God on a regular basis, the 82-year-old retired…
Why I am not without hope for Sarah Mullally
My phone immediately blew up with text notifications when Sarah Mullally was named the 106th archbishop of Canterbury late last week. “Did you hear?” and “Can you believe it?” became a common refrain. My personal favorite — “BOOM” — accompanied…
6 books that push back against black-and-white narratives of faith
When I left full-time ministry nearly 15 years ago, I remember feeling stymied by all the unread books on my shelf. I wanted to pick up a book, and while the shelf boasted plenty of Christian books to choose from,…
What Cara Meredith’s book gets right about church camp
After growing up in a Christian cult (Bill Gothard’s IBLP of Shiny Happy People), I found freedom working at a church camp one summer when I was 21. Showing up with my waist-length hair, ankle length skirts and long list…
New book explores the good, the bad and the weepy about church camp
Years attending and later working at Christian summer camps left Cara Meredith feeling somewhat ambivalent about letting her own children experience what is essentially an evangelical rite of passage. So perplexing was the question that it helped inspire her new…
The seven-talk progression of church youth camps
At the many different white evangelical church camps I called home for nearly 25 years, there was one thing I could count on at the end of a long summer’s day: a progression of seven standard talks given over the…
Get angry, church
There’s a powerful quote buried halfway through Madeleine L’Engle’s children’s novel, A Wrinkle in Time: “’Stay angry, little Meg,’ Mrs. Whatsit whispered. ‘You will need all your anger now.’” Just as Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry and Calvin O’Keefe are…
The church is called to DEI
Before taking office, Donald Trump promised a crackdown on diversity initiatives. In the weeks following the inauguration, some might say he’s overdelivered on his promise, shutting down federal DEI offices and putting all federal employees that work in such programs…
The inevitable invisibility of aging women in the church
In a 2019 essay for The Atlantic, Akiko Busch asks, “How might a woman’s identity evolve when she can go unrecognized, when she is no longer under the gaze of others?” The essay asserts an ultimate freedom of choice: because…