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Still Speaking
It was one of those days when God felt distant, peripheral, like background noise in the dizzying rush of my hectic life. Then I stumbled upon the Bible of my youth, with its loose pages and underlines and notes from friends tucked in between parables and miracles and blessings. I found this nugget of interpretation,…
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Still a Beautiful Church
Are you weary and discouraged by the stories and posts bemoaning the big-C universal Church’s failures and irrelevancy? Me too. It feels like the kinds of stories that make it into my feeds and headlines are about the big-C universal Church’s failures and irrelevancy. It leaves me feeling discouraged and disheartened, wondering what’s the point.…
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Parenting With Parables
My 2nd-grader lost her cash-filled wallet about a year ago. Today she found it. Overjoyed, she bounded up the stairs to tell me the good news. We celebrated with a little happy dance and off she went, down the stairs again. She was already moving on with her day. I wasn‘t done with the moment.…
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Loneliness, Jesus, and my Mothering Spirit
This week I was honored to have this essay called “Loneliness, Jesus, and My Mothering Spirit” published at a favorite online community called Mothering Spirit. I’ve been deliberating over this concept of the vocational loneliness of motherhood (or parenting) for the last many months, inspired by conversations shared with a small group of moms that…
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Cheers to the women
Cheers to the women who haveloved me fiercely.The ones who called forth the me in me.Who weathered my storms andfaced my fears andcarried a snack just for me,sometimes sweet, sometimes salty butalways the word or gesture orbag of chips I needed. Cheers to the women who mothered meinto the mother I’ve become.To my mom, cheers.…
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She Thought Jesus Was the Gardener
Mary Magdalene thought the resurrected Jesus was the gardener. The Gardener, whose job is to raise up new growth from a lifeless seed. The Gardener, whose job is to call forth new life out of the darkness of dirt. Perhaps Mary wasn’t wrong. Perhaps she was seeing Jesus’ true identity. The Gardener of the original…
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Gethsemane
Jesus walked willingly to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest. The courage in that act alone – it’s hard to fathom. God and humans don’t have a good history in gardens, after all. The last time God shared a garden with humanity, it didn’t end well. The humans betrayed God, eating…
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Let’s de-Hallmark-ify the Christmas story, shall we?
Let’s de-Hallmark-ify the Christmas story, shall we? Instead of a warm and cozy barn – try picturing a dark, grimy cave, full of loud, smelly animals who aren’t fond of sharing their home. Instead of a serene, beaming Mary – let’s imagine an exhausted teenager who just survived the risky business of labor, far from…
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All Saints Day
I light the candleremembering honoring missingJohnnyJackBettyJohnFayeTisaAdelaideOwenMikeRoyDon.I light the candle and seemyself in the dancing flame –the simmering embers of griefthe warmth of remembered lovethe sizzling burn of angerat Death, whoTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakes.So I light the candle and stare down Death.I will not flicker or flinch or fade.For the light shines in the darkness,Life is kindled from Death,and…
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Lunchbox Notes…from God
I slip a napkin note into my kids’ lunchboxes every day. Sometimes the note is as simple as a smiley face, other times I write silly jokes, but most of the time I write some version of: “I love you just the way you are.” When that time of day rolls around for my girls…
Rev. Laura Johnson
Pastor | Author