In honor of Banned Books Week, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary alum Luke Hillier reflects on Toni Morrison’s Sula, sharing the lessons the book taught him as a 17-year-old and teaches him today.
While wrestling with depression and a lack of clarity in her faith, Rev. Molly Smerko asks a friend, “How did you get unstuck?”. The resulting year of exploring spiritual practices has grounded her in a new way.
Neal D. Presa, a teaching elder of the Presbytery of San Diego and a delegate of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, shares his thoughts.
Rather than being suspicious of other viewpoints, Aaron Neff has learned to embrace disparity as a potential vehicle for the Holy Spirit.
Dodd-Sterling United Methodist Church and St. Luke's Presbyterian respond to their community's food insecurity while caring for one another.
PC(USA) minister at large Janice Stamper shares an account of the devastation following a major flood in July. She encounters death, loss, destruction, and glimpses of God’s presence too.
Whether it was struggling with reading as a first grader or wrestling with Hebrew as a seminarian, Rebecca Gresham’s education taught her that she can do hard things, even if it requires multiple attempts and some failure. This is a lesson she brings to her ministry: There is always a way forward.
Ashley Brown spent a month with her beloved, dying grandmother before she passed. In this essay, she reflects on their conversations about death and the unending gift of love.
"If a church’s vitality is measured less by what it takes in (people or dollars) and more by what it gives out (meeting needs outside its walls), the downturn in Sunday service attendance could become a catalyst for greater vitality," writes Sheldon W. Sorge.
Responding to an article previously published by the Outlook, Lee Hinson-Hasty ponders the future of pastoral leadership. Are we asking the right questions? Are we looking at the right data? Are we investing in future leaders?
Thomas Wesley Moore IV was called to be an interim pastor within five years of his ordination. He shares why working with churches in transition is important.
College chaplain Jeremy Wilhelmi encourages college students to be curious as they claim their own faith, often for the first time.
Julie Raffety, a minister of Word and Sacrament, shares her experience as a female pastor, why it makes her angry some days, and how God calls her to fight for something better.
Rev. Elana Keppel Levy shares how one high school class taught her about the judgments she made about others.
Rev. Eliza Jaremko, who recently turned 40, looks back on her what she's learned since her ordination at age 27.
College chaplain Maggie Alsup remembers with gratitude the chaplain and pastor, both women, who shepherded her through her college years. They stand as models for the call she now feels in her life.
In this back-to-school season, Rev. Andrew Taylor-Troutman shares a lesson he learned in fifth grade about the power of human connection.
A poem for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost.
Pastor and writer Kathleen Long Bostrom pens a final letter to the beloved theologian Frederick Buechner, who responded to her previous notes and played an important role in her sense of call. Buechner passed away on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.
Rev. Elana Keppel Levy reflects on living with chronic pain. Who is God when the pain doesn’t go away? She turns to the Bible for some advice.
Presbytery Executive Matthew Skolnik argues that Calvin’s hyper-focus on Word and sacrament does not fit the needs of the modern church. We can no longer be sanctuary-based in our ministry and must follow Jesus’ model.
In her new song 'Church Girl,' Beyoncé doesn’t just give church girls permission to dance, she also defends us.
Citing the all-women synagogue of Acts 16, the female leaders of the Philippian church and the “Mother of Quakerism” Margaret Fell, Rev. Aaron Neff argues that the Spirit does not discriminate against gender, humans do.
Rev. Greg Rapier looks at his son’s chicken-scratch drawings and sees something beautiful — holy, even. Perhaps creativity, whether it is in a child or adult, points to something greater.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman, pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church, honors the work of the church's founding pastor Rev. Dr. Mindy Douglas.
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