I often joke that maybe I shouldn’t have written a memoir of my faith journey, because now everyone knows me by the theology I had circa 2012. While still holding to core doctrines, I’ve changed my mind on other things I wouldn’t want to be known for now. Many Christians I know are speeding toward… Continue reading Idols rather than fishers
Tag: Donald Trump
To build a table or a fence: thoughts at the end of the Trump administration
I don’t know about you, but the last four years of Donald Trump completely upended my life. I learned that a few close childhood friends secretly believed I was a moral monster for not being a single-issue voter. I saw blatantly racist posts on social media from people I once respected. My social world has… Continue reading To build a table or a fence: thoughts at the end of the Trump administration
Grace for the fascist and the baby killer
I was talking to a friend recently about whether it's right to avoid people in my life who still ardently support Donald Trump, as a grown-up way of following the rule we all learned in kindergarten: "If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all." For me, the best way to… Continue reading Grace for the fascist and the baby killer
Maybe we need more foolish hope
I used to feel ambivalent, sometimes even frustrated, when friends would share on social media that they were expecting. Hear me out. Trump was still fairly new to the White House. Hate crimes were increasing all over the country. White nationalists were becoming emboldened in revealing their hateful agendas. Scientists released a grim report on… Continue reading Maybe we need more foolish hope
Can anger be holy?
People of color are often used to hearing that they sound angry all the time. The "angry black woman" stereotype is especially common. What you may not know is that "angry Jewish woman," or simply "angry Jewish people," is also a Thing. And I'm one of them. In an unexpected way, the Trump era has… Continue reading Can anger be holy?
Jesus and relational boundaries
In many ways, my husband Josh and I are opposites. Despite both of us being Christians, introverts (well, he's more of an outgoing introvert), and passionate about cats, he attends an evangelical megachurch -- I attend a small Episcopal one. He finds liturgy "weird"; I love it. He's politically independent, but holds views that lean… Continue reading Jesus and relational boundaries
When we are the reason they left
Not long after "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" author Joshua Harris announced he is no longer a Christian, Marty Sampson, a songwriter for the Christian band Hillsong, did the same thing. In my social media feeds, people have expressed fear that their favorite Christian artist, author, or speaker might be next. As if deconversion is a… Continue reading When we are the reason they left
When to end a friendship over politics
Would your family have hidden mine from the Nazis? I kid you not, I asked this question of my friends when I was a child. It was the ultimate gauge to see if they were truly good people (thankfully, they all said yes, they would have hidden me, but many of them didn't even know… Continue reading When to end a friendship over politics
This is how it starts
I was talking to my brother on the phone the other day: “You know, lately I’ve been thinking about the anxiety Mom had when we were growing up, about Nazis coming to America. And we all thought she was crazy.” “She wasn’t crazy,” he said. “That’s just a story we like to tell.” “Okay,” I… Continue reading This is how it starts
Surviving the latest schism
In November 2016, my faith took a hard nose dive. It was going that direction already, after a difficult season at a conservative seminary and acknowledging hard questions I couldn’t find sensible answers to. But if there’s one thing that really threatened to destroy it all, it was seeing a group of people, supposedly united… Continue reading Surviving the latest schism