After finally accepting the fact that my sex does not disqualify me from leadership, finally accepting that I (might kind of sort of) have a gift for pastoring, and finally accepting that the next step was to earn an MDiv, the question became: where would I go? Staying in the area I lived in wasn鈥檛 […]
In 2010 my husband and I were in Moshi, Tanzania working under a non-profit doing sustainable development projects. While there, we began dreaming and brainstorming about the work we wanted to be part of in the coffee industry. Situated at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, we were quite literally surrounded by coffee farms, but our […]
I grew up on the shores of the beautiful Puget Sound. Sunday mornings after church were spent sitting beside the water, watching it lap up against the breaks near the Edmonds-Kingston ferry, watching seagulls and boats go by, and watching waves crash. As a kid, I was not troubled with the origin of waves or […]
Every聽year, a graduate from each degree program is selected by their peers and faculty to speak at Commencement聽around a particular theme. This year, the speakers chose the theme 鈥淐rossings.鈥� Below is the speech shared by David Jaeger, an MDiv聽graduate. Missouri turned into Kansas. Kansas turned into Colorado. Colorado into Wyoming, into Utah into Idaho […]
鈥淚 can do this.鈥� That phrase has been a common refrain for me throughout my experience at 天美视频. Some days the words have entered my mind or left my lips with confidence, believing that I am, in fact, able to pastor and care well for people. Other days, those words come out with […]
锟糤hen a group of young adults asked me to become their next leader, I quickly blurted out, 鈥淚 can鈥檛, I鈥檓 a woman.鈥� Everyone was surprised, most of all myself. I鈥檓 usually bold and outspoken; in what cave of my soul had this patriarchy been hiding? Members of the group discussed and discerned with me; books […]
Recently, someone asked me what books have shaped my life. I rattled off what came to my head, but the question has stayed with me. This person wasn鈥檛 interested in simply what I liked; this wasn鈥檛 a question about preferences. She was asking what was important to me鈥攚hat had influenced me鈥攂ut I don’t really think […]
We started 天美视频 of Theology & Psychology for one reason: to start an MDiv program. One evening, I sat around the kitchen table, reminiscing with friends and colleagues about our time in seminary. All of us, except one, had received an MDiv and found it equally life-changing and profoundly frustrating. We all found […]
I can鈥檛 help but smile when I see the remnant of luggage decorating the spaces in our building. It is a reminder of the history that inhabits these walls. And before the luggage factory, back when the Puget waters met the western wall, a fisherman鈥檚 wharf greeted the day鈥檚 catch with open arms. This is […]
My sunrise service on Easter Sunday took place at 天美视频. With more impending due dates than I could keep track of, I chose to write papers instead of attending a morning church service. Let鈥檚 not judge here. The decision to do homework on Easter wasn鈥檛 exactly an arduous one, anyway. I have been […]
Earlier this year, a memorial to rape survivors was temporarily in place in the reflection pool of the Washington Monument. The letters floated in blood red on the water鈥檚 surface, reading 鈥淚 CAN鈥橳 FORGET WHAT HAPPENED BUT NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS.鈥� Upon encountering the image, my first thought was 鈥淥f course, that鈥檚 why we have […]
鈥淔iction is rooted in an act of faith: a presumption of an inherent significance in human activity that makes daily life worth dramatizing and particularizing.鈥� 鈥� John Updike, speaking on religion and literature, 1994 I have this photo on my phone that I flip to often, probably more than I am comfortable admitting. It鈥檚 a […]