This past week, I had the opportunity to hear a pitch for a fellowship that focuses on developing community leaders for the work of social transformation. It was more inspiring than it sounds. At the hart of the fellowship was the idea of empathy, or, as Oxford defines it, the ability to understand and share … Continue reading The limits of empathy →

On March 15, the Vatican announced that it won't bless same-sex unions, because, as they say "God does not and cannot bless sin". (Quick aside: It's interesting to consider that, after all, there is one thing the [allegedly] omnipotent creator of the universe cannot do.) This statement should have surprised no one. But it did. … Continue reading Homosexuality, homelessness, curses, and blessings →

This morning, at 7:00 am, there was a woman in a dark blue North Face jacket walking two fluffy white dogs in the pristine green space the neighborhood behind Safeway. I begin the story with her, because she must be more important than anyone else I encountered this morning. Otherwise, the story makes no sense. … Continue reading The pristine green space behind Safeway →

One day this past week, I was sitting at my desk sending an email, when my phone rang. The number that popped up was local and vaguely familiar, so I answered Hello, this is Lindsey, I said, noticing that I always sound a bit too cheerful when I answer, and wondering if it creates unrealistic … Continue reading Proclaiming the name of the dead →

Thus far, there has only been one Lenten season I did not start with ashes. The blizzard and sub-zero temperatures were our excuse for not swinging by the church, and when the priest arrived at our family gathering, he had forgotten his ashes back at the rectory. Like us, he was bereft. He was (is) … Continue reading The urgent fragility of ashes →

I don't like Howard Thurman's "The Work of Christmas". You know the poem. When the song of the angels is stilled/When the star in the sky is gone/When the kings and princes are home/When the shepherds are back with their flock/The work of Christmas begins... It is my least favorite Christmas poem, because it calls … Continue reading The work of Inauguration we haven’t started →

If you want him to speak, you'll need to be willing to listen, a colleague said to me when I was in the ordination. My conference (the local United Methodist body) had yet to ordain an openly gay candidate. I had, ostensibly, just come out, and had learned through the grapevine that a conservative member … Continue reading The art of listening and the “maybe” →

I should have accomplished more in this pandemic, I heard someone say in a recent Zoom devotional. The remark touched me, because similar words have come from my own lips. I remember when the pandemic began. I, like many others on my block, managed my early anxiety by making a list of a variety of … Continue reading Guilt to Grace: A New Year’s Journey →

Be sure to follow the news over the holiday, our professor told us as we headed out the door. It was 2002, and I was a freshman journalism student in Washington, DC. Because this is when the powers-that-be do their worst. When no one is paying attention, he practically had to shout over us to … Continue reading Herod, Blackwater, and the War on Christmas →

What are their names? I asked, staring at the picture before me in my spiral-bound Catechism workbook. I don't remember how old I was, but since that time, the image has seared into my brain. Through somewhat blurry sepia-tones, I could make out the bodies of two women - their sandaled feet protruding from under … Continue reading Those women in sandals who died in El Salvador →