Tag: Christianity

  • Couch Churches: Confronting Trauma, Friendship, and Tomorrow

    Part One: Trauma I have a complicated relationship with church, both as a building and as a body. As the son of a church worker, I suppose some of that is to be expected. Long days spent at the church instead of daycare, hearing typical workplace drama about your pastoral staff, and the like make…

  • True Strength and Courage

    Read Joshua Chapter 1 On Your Own It begins with the death of a father. In a valley, they bury a 120 year old man. For 30 long and bitter days, a nation weeps. And then, out of the chaos and longing, a call is heard: Pick up your stuff and go, no harm will…

  • Your mysteries are madness

      I would like to read the sentence “do you remember so and so” without feeling an immediate sense of dread. I would likewise appreciate texting out “Did you ever know so and so” without having to follow-up with “they’re not dead, I just have a story.” As a social scientist, I rather enjoy statistics…

  • Exile not Isle

    If you’re coming at this Christian thing from a Western culture framework, you might have heard a little voice calling out to you from Jeremiah: For I know the plans I have for you. We in the West like to tattoo scriptures on our wrists, encircle them in floral print, and pin them to our mirrors on…

  • The Sting

    On a rocky hill, the crowds have dissipated. A Roman commander sits on this bed, head in his hands, nauseous and thankful for solid ground. The brown, perfumed body of a carpenter is sealed behind a boulder. Two women sit in stunned silence across the rock. They are cried out; their faces dry and stoic.…