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Grief and gratitude

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Guest commentary by Lara Hauser What does grief have to do with stewardship and giving? They seem like pretty disparate subjects, but I find them to be deeply intertwined. In many churches, stewardship season is a time to talk about gratitude and generosity. I may be unique, but I think it is a good time to talk about grief as well, because, as a widow, I think it is always a good time to talk about grief. And I’d like to make a case that grief and gratitude can go hand in hand. Last fall, our church offered a class on the theology of wealth. It was a really good class, taught by a gifted instructor and, like all good teachers, he asked provocative questions that refused to leave me alone. One question in particular really stuck with me: “What does how you live say about your theology?” The question lingered in my mind, insisting on my attention. Another way to phrase that might be: What defines your life? What will people think about or talk about when your name comes … [Read more...]

Tagged With: pastoral perspectives on grief • stewardship

Mid-March (early mud season)

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Didn’t mean to go this far, but my insistent terrier – all eight pounds – tugs me toward the lumbered steps that lead beyond the woods onto the bluff. Lingering patches of last Monday’s snowfall make me step careful, leaning wary on the cane, while savoring the icy crunch of boots, crisp imprints where, till then, only dainty-hoof deer had trod. Leaning across the split-log fence along the edge, I pause to monitor the gulls patrolling of the shoreline, check out a bobbing congregation of brown ducks and eiders – no tiny brood as yet, to cluster alongside. The sun, through snowbank-heaps of cloud, transforms the surface dark-blue/green to momentary swaths of vivid aquamarine, out there toward the horizon. While to the north, along the bay, distant figures of other walkers with their ecstatic off-leash companions swirl the sands of Higgins Beach. And in the woods behind the silent sap is headed upward, long dormant foliage is pressing hard against old winter’s buds, … [Read more...]

Tagged With: poetry

“I can’t afford to be saved”

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Guest commentary by Carlton Johnson If I live to be as old as my birthday, I know that I’ll never forget those words.  Crystal (not her real name), the love of my undergrad life, had confirmed once and for all on that hot summer morning that being a part of the church was not for her. I felt like a personal failure. I wanted to be with a church girl and Crystal wasn’t going to be one. Unwittingly, I’d invited her to Building Fund Sunday. By the time the pastor was done with the biblical dictates on giving, Crystal had calculated that in order to be considered a “rightly saved person,” she would have to give one-third of her meager college student’s salary. As she exited the sanctuary, it was clear, for her, that heaven was not within reach. To be honest, if I had focused on what was being preached, I would likely have drawn the same conclusion.  But, at the time, I was more interested in Crystal than Christ. (At least I’m honest.) Yet, as my own faith journey deepened, I … [Read more...]

Borrowed Time

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These forty days are Lent to us – not counting Sundays – a blessed space in time in which to step aside, get out of line, drop out of the mad rush toward the six-foot drop and bring oneself to life again. Six weeks, say – more or less – until the note falls due, those generous terms expire, and the piper must be paid under the palm branches and dark twisted olive trees. … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Lent

So I agreed to go to therapy

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Guest commentary by Jacob Kennedy Yep, the title of this piece is correct. I agreed to go to therapy. To some, that might not seem like anything noteworthy, but for me, this was a hard and beautiful step. I spent the designated 30 minutes on the new client form in my room. I even had a friend sit with me just to make sure it was completed. It wasn’t that things had gotten really bad. Nothing drastic had happened, but it was clear that it was time to talk. I was anxious, frustrated and, at times, felt like my mind would not stop racing. So, I agreed to go to therapy. Let me give you a little context. I am first year seminary student. I am 23 years old. A month and half after graduating college, I moved to New Jersey and started my seminary journey with summer Greek, which wrapped up two weeks before the start of fall semester. I got through that first semester just fine, even managing to do well in my classes. Things seemed to be going great! Now, I know what you are thinking. … [Read more...]

Tagged With: mental health

Living in Holy Saturday: A Presbyterian reflects on the Methodist General Conference

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Guest commentary by George Love I want to share a word to my Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) family as we stand by our United Methodist siblings in the wake of their General Conference from one who was present as an observer.  Their February gathering in St. Louis affirmed a "Traditional Plan" for the polity of their church.  This plan does not provide for a polity that would allow ordination of LGBTQ+ persons or same-sex marriages.  It is hard to overstate the amount of pain that emanated from those city blocks in St. Louis on Tuesday, February 26.  I fear the fallout will be great.  There is the specific pain of the LGBTQ+ community within and beyond the United Methodist Church, the pain of those within the church who desired a more inclusive way forward and the pain of a church divided nearly in half in their vote (53 to 47 percent).  Much of the pain is simply bound up in the deep and foundational passion of our United Methodist brothers and sisters for their church in this moment … [Read more...]

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