"Organization isn't about perfection—it's about creating rhythms and systems that support your calling, reduce unnecessary stress, and leave room for what matters most."

How can preparing for a move be grounded in growth?

Doomed with the irritating fate of being born a twin, the lessons from biblical twins Jacob and Esau became inevitable for me.

Blessed are they who protect the earth and all her creatures.

As we are entrusted to curate the space of worship around us, I think that it's good to keep all of these characters of a Resurrection story in mind and how they learned, how they connected with the Divine, how they recognized the Christ.

Emmanuel is who Jesus was with Thomas: God who reaches into our woundedness and brings forth peace. This is a God who uses us in the midst of our doubt and struggles, in the midst of pain, to bring forth new life and wholeness. This is a God with us, in all our suffering.

In this issue of Fidelia, we explore growth not as a straight line, but as a deeply human experience.

Empowerment is a gift of abundance to be shared.

You are not here by accident. Claim that authority and trust the Holy Spirit to move.

YCWI is hiring a Communications and Operations Manager. This is a part-time, salaried, remote position that supports the board and membership.

Lent is about giving up, but it is also about giving in–acknowledging that we are in need of returning to God and surrendering to God’s transformative work within us.

What can be lost in the conversation about the stained-glass ceiling is the use of silence as a tool of patriarchy.

Ministerette parties remind us that following God’s call to ordained ministry is an occasion worth celebrating!

For hundreds of LGBTQ+ youth, Trinity Place embodies “a wild belief that with God and one another we can make a difference.”

Steele suggests that viewing ADHD as a "disorder"—as its clinical name suggests—limits our ability to recognize and appreciate the spiritual gift of ADHD. As we are all created in God's image, so the traits of ADHD are reflections of the imago dei among us.

Our theme for this month’s Fidelia issue is “Ordination.” Whether you are recently ordained and remember the day well, or it feels like ages ago, I hope that these pieces draw you back into the mystery, wonder, and celebration that comes with the beautiful experience of ordination.

Aligning with evil does not protect you from evil. Aligning with power does not guarantee you will be given power.

It is surprising that clergy have to be told to get our affairs in order when we are in a profession that often deals with death. I think about death a lot. How can I not when funerals, both of clergy and parishioners, are a regular on my calendar. I often think of my own preferences, noting songs I like, but I haven’t gotten my affairs in order. I haven’t written a will. I haven’t filed away my account passwords. We are young clergy. It isn’t surprising if we think that we have a long road of ministry and life ahead of us.

Before we are ash, we are ember: amber blocks of carbon glowing in the fading light; the glory of a campfire at the end of the evening.

Every human being, regardless of tradition or culture, will die. We cannot begin to understand the meanings of our lives without acknowledging that those lives are finite, fleeting, and ephemeral.

Maybe instead of making Valentine’s Day all about ‘who’ we love, we can try making it about ‘how’ God loves.

Let us return to God in worship together.

Let’s go a different way this Lent, towards a well that is overflowing with abundant grace.

This month, Fidelia, is journeying into Lent, holding space for expressions of anguish and longing.

Celebrating Lunar New Year within the Christian context is an excellent way to bring the church together as one family in Christ.

We, as leaders, have the privilege of being surrounded by wonders every day that we work.

“That’s me. They are looking for me.” This was my immediate response to reading their profile for the first time – and this notion that they were looking for me scared the living daylights out of me.

The ritual of the star word is simple: on Epiphany, the day the church remembers the Magi who appeared in Bethlehem and were guided by a star, congregations distribute words—often printed on stars—to each of their members. This word is to be a guiding word for the upcoming year.

It is one thing to wish on a star; quite another to follow it.

Maybe the point of a star word is not that suddenly our lives become marked by the word, and everything changes to revolve around it. Maybe the point of a star word is not that we become different or better people because of the word. Maybe all of the ways I’d been engaging around star words were just reflections of my own insecurities.

This month, Fidelia begins something new.

May we be the magi. May we be like the angels. May we be like the Egyptians.

But I don’t want you to think that because you are waiting, that God has neglected you or rejected you. No, in fact, it means the opposite: you are waiting because God has already claimed you as God’s own, made commitments to care for you, and loves you wholeheartedly.

Calvin wasn’t perfect, but he was far more generous and wide-ranging in his thought than many of his modern champions would like to believe.

We are made in the image of a friendly but not tame God.

I went into the move aware of the financial risk, and knowing it would cause me anxiety. What I didn’t expect was for life in the new house to reveal my inner demons, lurking within memories of a troubled childhood and fears about the future.

Instead of looking away from what frightens us, we do what the Gospel writers want us to do: we sit with these possibilities. We imagine. We consider what is eternal and what is not.

Alongside the joyful tone with the coming of Jesus, Advent is perhaps the season that addresses the need for justice the most. Mary’s song about the dethroning of kings, dispersal of wealth, feeding the hungry, and uplifting the lowly is a divine message for all times and places.