The much-anticipated return of The Handmaid’s Tale, a TV series based on the post-apocalyptic novel by Margaret Atwood, was just released. Last season ended with the murder of Commander Fred Waterford, who played a large part in the creation of…
Glimpses of grief reveal reality for women in ministry
During the summer of my Clinical Pastoral Education residency at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, all eight of us in the cohort experienced many deaths and sleepless on-call shifts. One day during education, we were noticeably and collectively “out of it.”…
Here’s why cremation is now chosen after 57% of all U.S. deaths
The ongoing surge in U.S. cremation rates can accurately be described as “stunning,” author and grief educator Harold Ivan Smith said. “When I was in mortuary school in 1966, cremation was probably done in 1% of cases,” said Smith, also…
The night I administered infant baptism as an act of compassion
Note: This article includes a description of a stillborn birth. It seemed to be a normal evening. I was at home watching TV when I received an urgent call from one of the members of my congregation who needed my…
A Bubba-Doo’s regular loses a loved one
I stopped outside the door at my favorite hangout, Bubba-Doo’s, to hold it open for an acquaintance. I knew Landrum from his occasional visits there to the country store. He showed up some afternoons and very rarely said much. In…
It is well with my soul? How Mel Gibson and toilet paper helped rescue my appreciation of a hymn
I knew there would come a day when I couldn’t sing it. As a kid, I loved the majesty of the hymn It is Well with My Soul. As life’s harsher realities set in, however, I came to hate it….
Gifts of hospitality in the midst of grief
I’ve known two fundamental truths about myself since I was little: I am adopted, and I am Latina. A birth heritage of Mexican descent always has felt like an important piece of who I am. I was adopted at birth…
COVID, Holy Week and God’s consolations
I lost a friend I highly respected to COVID. Our church family has prayed through the illnesses of members, friends and family, observed deaths and then, of course, there were the illnesses and losses due to complications of COVID never…
Easter is for those who have been to the cemetery
Next Sunday, people in the United States will wish Easter felt like it did three years ago. They will put on new shoes and wonder if they should have gotten a half size larger. They will consider going out for…