Throughout Advent, I’m grateful for the chance to offer a series of reflections about Advent and the grief we experience in our lives, in our churches, and in our world. Part two: The forgotten sadness of congregational grief Advent has begun. Thanksgiving’s leftovers are mostly finished, and the pace of life is picking up. At church, hallways are festooned with…
For the next three weeks, I’ll be offering a series of reflections about Advent and the grief we experience in our lives, in our churches, and in our world. Part One: Singing Silent Night in a minor key Grief’s appearance during Advent and Christmas rattles us like the ghosts who inhabit Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas Eve dreams. While our culture is…
As I fumbled to fill the church’s Advent candles with oil on Sunday, I found myself snagged by the grief’s sneaky undertow. But that is how grief often operates. It is much less a sequence of predictable events we can check off than it is a series of repeating waves that rise and fall according to their own somewhat random…
Message Shared by Sandra Monroe for the Giddings Lovejoy Presbyterian Women’s Gathering October 21, 2023 Exodus 1:15-22 15 The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl,…
Blog Post by Rev. Shana Vernon BJC Chaplain Supervisor Member of Commission on Preparation I have watched YouTube videos of jumping dwarf goats, cute kittens, and rescued donkeys as one practice of decompression during the pandemic. Eventually, this wasn’t enough. Then I found myself watching explorers who trek across land and water in northeastern Canada and sail the northern seas…
Blog Post by Rev. Eric Post Chaplain, Barnes-Jewish Hospital As a chaplain, I am called to comfort the afflicted. As a Christian, I am called to love everyone, even those with whom I disagree. In my work caring for patients and families at a large hospital, these callings can coincide. How might my lens as a chaplain be helpful in…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Jay Kanerva Specialized Ministry – Chaplain Luke 6:20-31 In the summer of 1994, a tremendous heatwave hit Chicago, contributing to the deaths of many inner-city residents. The homeless, the poor, and the elderly were the most significantly affected. I was serving as a student chaplain at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and one of my coverage areas…