Blog Archives

The stress of the movable Sabbath

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Alan Rudnick — No Comments ↓

Someone at church once asked me, “When is your day off?” I replied, “Friday.” “Wow.” He said. “I wish I could have Friday’s off. Must be nice.” “Well, I don’t get many Sundays off. That must be nice to have…

Remembering Will Campbell, a spiritual brother

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Todd Heifner — 2 Comments ↓

Some years ago, songwriter and poet Mickey Newbury sat down to pen a song about Cortelia Clark. With the background full of sounds of distant trains and despair dripping from the trees, he led with this verse . . .…

Jesus, Easter, and the always-awesome “Office Space”

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Brandon Hudson — 1 Comment ↓

Once, when I worked at a job that had regular staff meetings that I quite abhorred, I found great and sacred solace in the profound film Office Space. How could it not provide a plethora of holy moments? Here, in this…

Tagged with: Easter, Jesus, Mike Judge, Office Space, Peter Gibbons
Posted in Health & Wholeness, Media & Arts, Mental Health, Movies, Religion, Theology

Our culture of violence requires adaptive change

Posted on January 23, 2013 by George Bullard — 1 Comment ↓

I owned one gun in my life. It was a single shot 22-gauge rifle. My father gave it to me when I was around 12 years old. I sold it to a friend for his grandson 16 years later. In…

Lessons From Stone Mountain

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Julie Pennington-Russell — 4 Comments ↓

It all started with my teeth. A couple of years ago I was reclining in the chair of my dentist, Dr. Uetsuki, waiting for the nitrous oxide to kick in. “Are you doing anything special for New Year’s?” he asked…

Mourning with those who mourn

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Garin Hill — 1 Comment ↓

Like the rest of the country, I watched the news in shock and disbelief just days ago as unspeakable headlines scrolled along the bottom of the screen: “School shooting in Newtown, CT;” “Gunman attacks elementary school;” “More than 20 feared…

Tagged with: Connecticut, Crying, faith, Grief, grieving, Jesus, Newtown, Shooting
Posted in Faithful Living, Grief, Health & Wholeness, Mental Health, Parenting, Suffering

Blue Christmas

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Peggy Haymes — No Comments ↓

Last year about this time I was preaching for the Blue Christmas service held at a church in a another city. It’s one of those services where the church gives a nod to the fact that not all people are…

Tagged with: a, Advent, Blue Christmas, Christmas, depression, Grief, holidays, light, loss, Spirituality
Posted in Grief, Mental Health, Spiritual Formation, Suffering

Hope is my friend

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Peggy Haymes — No Comments ↓

I was cruising through the list of notification on the GoodReads web site when one caught my eye. “Hope is your friend.” Of course, it was a notification that someone named Hope and I had made a social media connection,…

Tagged with: change, Christianity, Church, community, Counseling, faith, Grace, hope, mental health
Posted in Health & Wholeness, Healthy Living, Mental Health

Beautiful City

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Peggy Haymes — No Comments ↓

As I’ve been doing some writing today I’ve been listening to music on my computer. I’d loaded some new songs and I smiled as the opening notes of “Beautiful City” from “Godspell” began. It’s always been one of my favorite…

Tagged with: Broken Open, change, faith, fear, Formation, Funeral, Godspell, Grace, Jesus, Music, Spiritual Practice, suffering
Posted in Faithful Living, Grief, Mental Health, Suffering

“. . . as you love yourself.”

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Barrett Owen — No Comments ↓

If Jesus were pastoring in a mainline, Protestant church today, and were asked the same question scribes and scholars ask in Mark 12.28-31 (What is the greatest commandment?), I think he’d omit the “. . . as you love yourself”…

Prodigals and those who love them

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Ircel Harrison — 3 Comments ↓

Even if you are the parent of a child who has never rebelled, been in trouble, or broken your heart, please read the rest of this blog. If you have never encountered a day of difficulty in raising your children,…

Tagged with: Prodigal Son
Posted in Faithful Living, Health & Wholeness, Mental Health, Parenting

Worlds colliding

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Peggy Haymes — No Comments ↓

As a pioneer in the field of grief, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross used to hold workshops all over the world. In these workshops people didn’t just learn about grief; they had a chance to do deep grieving of their own. A friend…

Asking for Help

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Ircel Harrison — No Comments ↓

I still remember the look I got from a fellow church member when I mentioned in conversation that I had been seeing a pastoral counselor. The expression was a strange mixture of disbelief and pity. I don’t regret saying it,…

Tagged with: clergy health, coaching, Counseling, mental health
Posted in Healthy Living, Leadership, Mental Health

Learning not to be perfect

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Amy Grosso — No Comments ↓

We live in a world where from a young age we are critiqued. From kindergarten on we get grades that tell us how close, or far away, we are from perfection. To be perfect is the goal for which we…

Tagged with: acceptance, Blogging, Perfection
Posted in Health & Wholeness, Mental Health, Spiritual Formation