Hail Mary full of grace, I say as I drop into the pool and take the first stroke. Blessed art thou among women — reach arms, roll shoulders — and blessed be the fruit of thy womb Jesus . Turn my head...

Orthodoxy is a fraught term in the Christian faith. On the one hand, proponents for thinking in an orthodox manner might stridently argue for the high importance of clarity of thought when speaking ab...

In an age when indifference about doctrine is often mistaken for humility, many mainline Christians hesitate to embrace their church’s confessional tradition. For some, creeds and catechisms feel like...

For the past four years, I have been on a quest to understand the Nicene Creed. Time after time, I heard the same questions from parishioners: “Why do we say this every Sunday?” “Can I come to church...

Amateur Hour: On church for the love of God I recently watched Carson Lund’s 2025 film Eephus . (1) It’s a beautiful and sad movie. Its beauty comes from its deep love for baseball. In its slow pac...

The Church faces no crisis more urgent than that posed by Christian nationalism. Born out of an infernal blend of political authoritarianism, fundamentalism, racism, and heteronormativity, Christian n...

Contemplating transcendent aspects of the divine creates a slow-burning fullness in my chest. It lacks the mystical sharpness of St. Teresa’s fiery sword, but when it happens, I feel my desperate hold...

In a July 3 opinion article for Religion News Service, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe argues that, in the words of its headline, “The Episcopal Church must now be an engine of resistance.” (1) In rea...

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. Robert Lowry’s “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus” was first introduced at a New Jersey Baptist camp meeting in 1876, where “this very simp...

I’ve always been a student of the Bible. From finding a comfort in memorizing four verses on a high school mission trip, to leading Bible studies in youth group, to realizing how quickly the right ans...

The Christianity of my high school was a leaning overgrown tree, its roots intertwined with invasive undergrowth and creatures sheltering in its branches. My school affirmed the historic dogmas of the...

What if the transcendent experiences we have around art aren’t just a mirage? What if they’re real encounters with God?

In a sermon published in an 1898 edition of the Pan-Africanist paper, Voice of Mission, the Right Reverend Henry McNeal Turner, a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a longtime Black n...

It took a desert monk to help me see that breastfeeding is the closest I’ve ever come to prayer without ceasing. The young, wealthy, and well-educated John Cassian left his family’s home in present-...

One mile in, I heard from my left earbud: “battery low.” Add to the mental list: charge earbuds! A little while later, my watch sent one long buzz to my wrist. “That was a quick mile,” I thought, befo...

"[Boethius's] sense of the world was ripped away, and no alternative was offered until Lady Philosophy came with her cures."

Imagine walking with prayer in the neighbourhood. The noises of those around us say so much—about job loss, health issues, infertility, abandonment, loneliness and all the different ways life takes a ...

For many years, I believed my family was born under a black cloud. Mental and spiritual struggles ran deep across generations. My grandfather died by suicide before my father could remember him, and m...

I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike...

If you are (or were) a parent of young kids, you know that bedtime can be a challenge. At least I hope you know—I’d hate to think it was just me. You might be hoping to pack school lunches, get the d...

I was an undergraduate at Sewanee in the mountains of Tennessee the first time a hurricane hit home while I wasn’t there with the rest of my family.  I knew in my head that we’d had worse storms ...

I didn’t scream—I wrote instead, With trembling hands and thoughts I bled. Each page a place to set it down, The grief, the ache, the thorn-tipped crown. I spilled the silence, line by line, Th...

“After the attempt on the life of the Führer, the German Protestant Church Chancellery and the Spiritual Council of the German Protestant Church expressed their gratitude to God for his gracious prote...

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it… I’m running late as I climb the stairs of the old wooden church, clutching a notebook. At the top of the steps a man stands unsteadily, leaning against his walker. ...

As I write this, it is Holy Saturday. It is a time for holding the tension of the arrest, mock trial, and public execution of Jesus of Nazareth with the anticipation of resurrection and the harrowing ...

I first heard “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” at a high school retreat. It was peak Tumblr hipster era. We were all wearing beanies and 3-D glasses with the lenses punched out, taking our pictures...

In Anthony Trollope’s slim novel, The Warden , a local activist named John Bold attempts to right what he feels is a grave injustice: the warden of  Hiram’s Hospital — a care home for old men in...

I have had many breakdowns at work, but this was the first one in church: A stack of fluorescent light bulbs, the long thin ones that fit into ceiling panels, were leaning up against one another in t...

would you wish yourself innocent of ice? (1) My mother says she loves rainy days the best but aren’t the skies weeping step outside and it’s messy the clouds heavy and gray – over an ocean, the ...

It comforts me to know that God is everywhere. Psalms 139:7 (NRSVue) says, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” The Incarnation of God as Imanu-El , God with us...

On January 20, as many of us had the day off in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and legacy, the United States experienced a peaceful transition of power. President Joe Biden completed...

No one present at a Maundy Thursday service with foot washing and the commemoration of the institution of the Lord’s Supper or the making of deacons at which Brian Wren’s hymn Great God, Your Love Ha...

It wouldn’t be Advent for me without Charles Wesley’s hymn “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending” sung to the glorious tune Helmsley. While many assume Advent is simply preparation for Christmas, the f...

This is a revelation, a lesson, a showing These are revelations of love that will be taught to you in sixteen showings You will be shown and you will be told you will see with the eye and with the...

Many Americans refer to “Christian nationalism” as a new threat, but the concept has deep and unsavory roots in South African history. (1) In the 20th century, the Afrikaners—white descendants of 17...

Ask ten Christians who grew up in ten different churches what it was like going to their church and you’ll likely get a wide range of experiences. One thing I have found to be fairly ubiquitous among ...

Some mornings, I cannot bear the shrouds, gritting my teeth in the pews to keep from barreling down the aisle and freeing your cross from its mantle myself– I ask the priest, doesn’t it break your ...

Anyone who has experienced loss—whether through the painful absence of a deceased loved one or the erosion of personal agency in the face of corrupt institutions upheld by seemingly untouchable figure...

Speak English in this car! I was shocked to hear those words come from my father’s mouth. This was the man who, while I was growing up, taught me about Brown Pride and Chicano Power, who reminisced ...