Being a missionary kid comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include an ability to walk between worlds and validate people’s perspectives and diversity. Advantages include a broader view of the world and a certain amount of self-sufficiency that contributes to success and independence. Advantages include an… Continue reading
“When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the hands of families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as yo do, and we have been… Continue reading
It’s about time to try to summarize my trip to South Sudan using a few key pictures of some favorite moments. For a sermon I preached recently with more details about the processing of that trip, go here for the audio version or here for the manuscript.
Pastor’s going on vacation…this means I get to preach for two weeks in a row. And of course I get the last installment of the random “the Kingdom of Heaven is like…” parables told in Matthew. Both an over-used and a misunderstood concept, I think. Meanwhile, we haven’t talked much… Continue reading
“What’s your story?” I was sitting at a pizza restaurant with a group of church leaders who until the day before had been complete strangers to me. But now, after 2 days of conversation and training, we were chatting in a much more familiar tone as we sipped beverages and… Continue reading
During my senior year of high school I took a class called “Current World Issues.” We watched a lot of CNN. And the teacher tried to convince us to care about these news stories we researched and reported on each week. Unfortunately, in our teenage arrogance, we thought we knew… Continue reading
What follows is a series of entries about how I got to the point where I am getting ready for a 15 day trip to East Africa. I figured breaking it into installments would be better than expecting someone to read a novel. But be warned…it may still be a… Continue reading
I’m really excited to have a chance to go back to Africa this summer with a young adult from my congregation. Here’s an ‘interview’ we published in the church newsletter with the information: I had a chance to catch up with one of Advent’s young adults for a conversation about… Continue reading
I’ve been getting surprisingly challenging questions from kids recently. Last week in preschool chapel a group of kids came in obviously eager to engage me in a conversation they had been having on their own. The first kid comes up to me and says, “Sister Michelle, I have a difficult… Continue reading
Another poem I came up with to talk about the Beatitudes. I really need to find an illustrator to help me put some images to these words! After teaching the crowd, Jesus went up on a hill His disciples went after him, following still. Jesus had more to say so… Continue reading