Why Congregations Shouldn’t Work So Hard to Keep Their Young People This is an article I wrote for the Collegeville Institute about “Jacob,” a Jewish kid who composes music on an old Game Boy and plans to stop being “religious” when he goes to college, and impressed me in a conversation we had last week. […]
On “Ashes to Go” 
March 5, 2013 by
Starting early on Ash Wednesday morning, while it was still dark, two church members and I stood in our church driveway and parking lot, wearing white robes and offering ashes to the people driving by. We’re on a relatively busy street, but it was freezing cold and dark and I’m not sure that, before the […]
Can Pastors Be Honest? (article link)
February 7, 2013 by
The Young Women’s Clergy Project published a piece of mine today at their blog, Fidelia’s Sisters. It’s just as relevant for non-clergy types: Telling the Truth “Wait, you mean you still haven’t fired him yet?” I burst out at my colleague. She was having a meeting with her music director. The same music director. The same director, who, over […]
What a Pastor Does
January 9, 2013 by
“So, what exactly do you do as a pastor? Do you do a lot of counseling?” Adam and I were on vacation the week after Christmas and the man who ran the B&B where we stayed asked me this. It’s hard to explain. At least this guy didn’t ask if I only work on Sundays. I […]
Inside My Church
January 9, 2013 by
On the Sunday before Christmas… probably during announcements. We had the children’s pageant that morning, so it was a full house. That second shot – wide angle lens! – makes it look more narrow that it really is. Actually, it’s almost a square. My husband, Adam, took these pictures from the back, where he sits […]
Pictures of the Vicar, 9pm
October 3, 2012 by
The night before we left on a short vacation last weekend, after church meetings we’d both had that night, Adam set up his tripod in the sanctuary to take some professional photos of me. It was strange to be putting on vestments, alone, at night, in the big empty church. These were for a newsletter […]
My Favorite Monastery
September 17, 2012 by
I’ve been visiting monasteries since I was in college. This is my favorite – Holy Wisdom, in Madison, Wisconsin. The land is sort of magical — one of those places where “the veil is thin.” The rooms and buildings have a spare and open aesthetic. The sisters are brainy, sing their prayers in inclusive language three […]
Church Is Where They Tell You What To Do
August 29, 2012 by
“Why would you want to go somewhere where they just want to tell you what to do?” A friend of a friend’s husband asked this, when his wife was thinking about attending church with their children. My friend, a churchgoer with a rebel soul, happened to be there. She came back with: “Mark, you know […]
Take 12 – August 
August 21, 2012 by
Not all taken on August 12, but thereabouts… (“Take 12” is a project to take 12 pictures of your daily life on the twelfth of each month in 2012). My desk, with calendars, church directory, thank you notes, a Sunday bulletin, cup from Subway, to do list, and various: The attendance count sheets we […]
St. Benedict Was A Suburbanite
July 22, 2012 by
The patron saint of my church is St. Benedict, who lived in Italy in the 6th century. He was one of the first people to organize a monastery that wasn’t eccentric or extreme. His monks ate three meals a day, slept in beds, and, although they went to church nine (!) times a day and […]
