Currently viewing the category: "Life of the Church"

You Choose Where We Go From Here

By On January 7, 2013 · 26 Comments

Last Thursday, this blog had four pageviews. Four. You could count them on one hand, and still have one finger left over.

Friday morning, I read KJ Dell’Antonia’s essay, Children, Choosing Their Religion. In response, I wrote You Choose Your Child’s Religion.

By the end of the day Friday, this blog [...]

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The Domestic Church

By On December 18, 2012 · 6 Comments

 

Advent makes me remember the moment I stumbled onto blogs that captivated me.

It was four years ago. I was the Children’s Ministry Director at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and a postulant for priesthood.

 

 

I needed something to do on a Wednesday night with a group of kids, so I did a [...]

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A Blogaversary, An Announcement

By On November 28, 2012 · 6 Comments

I started blogging just about a year ago. I had no idea what I was doing. I was so shy about the fact that I had started a blog that I told no one, not even my husband.

I used the URL www.plainsongfarm.com because I already owned it. I bought it in 2001, soon after [...]

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Behind the Rise of the “None’s”

By On October 23, 2012 · Leave a Comment

I have a new post up today at Building Faith, an online Christian education community. Here’s the first paragraph:

The Pew Forum’s recent report “None’s on the Rise” has caused much commentary about the current state of American society and the loss of trust in the institutional church. Many commenters have analyzed the trend rationally, [...]

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Once you were darkness, but…

By On September 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment

It’s halfway through September, and clearly I haven’t been writing on this blog. It is not because I haven’t been writing! On October 8th, the diocesan profile for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan’s bishop search process is scheduled to go live on our website. I didn’t write much of the profile, but [...]

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To Preach the Gospel, Words Are Necessary

By On July 18, 2012 · 6 Comments

It’s been an interesting few days since the end of The Episcopal Church’s General Convention. Media coverage of Convention has sparked almost as much online discussion as Convention itself. As I’ve watched the conversation, one thing has become clear to me: right now, words are necessary to preach the gospel.

For a long time, I [...]

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The Higgs Boson and Christian Theology

By On July 4, 2012 · 16 Comments

This morning brings news of the discovery of a subatomic particle that resembles the Higgs boson. I last studied physics in 1986, so I confess that I am not entirely clear on the magnitude of this discovery. As I read the New York Times article, these two sentences stood out:

Confirmation of the [...]

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Evangelism After Christendom

By On July 3, 2012 · 1 Comment

Here’s a new resource: The Church Army‘s Sheffield Center Online Library of Evangelism Research. Free papers on evangelism and fresh expressions. Finally, a research hub for thinking about new ways of being church. Granted, they’re in the United Kingdom, which they describe this way: “Britain after Christendom is becoming [...]

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Bishop Search Resources: We Can Do Better

By On July 2, 2012 · Leave a Comment

I wrote earlier that I had neglected my blog because I was sick for most of June.  That is true.

Note the scenic location of my recent vacation:

But that’s not the only reason I haven’t been blogging lately. The other reason is that I am spending online time another way: [...]

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More Pruning Thoughts: An Update and some Links

By On May 16, 2012 · 6 Comments

My most recent post outlined some statistical trends in the Episcopal Church.  It was a pleasure to hear from quite a few people in the comments as well as by private email. Although it was published only a couple of days ago, it has garnered almost 300 page [...]

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