Blessing for letting goBy Nancy Ross This blessing reminds youThat sometimes what we must removeIs not as simple as decluttering the kitchenIt is not as simple as pulling unused coatsOut of the closetSometimes we must get out the shovelStart digging in the backyardUntil we find that buried boxOf ghosts and bodiesWe don’t know how to…
A blessing for those in need of a blessing
I posted the text of this blessing over at the Exponent Blog last month. I prefaced the blessing with the following text: Prior to the pandemic, I asked the folks in the Exponent community what situations they would like to have addressed in a blessing and was overwhelmed by the response. I offer this blessing-of-many-needs…
Framing Noah’s Ark with the Pandemic
My mission center (kind of like a Mormon stake, but geographically much bigger) is now doing church services online every week. I was asked to do the children’s moment for this coming Sunday with the scripture beginning John 20:19, where the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples and asks them to believe and “Believe” is…
Pandemic Easter Lament
I was looking for an Easter prayer to fit my mood and could not find one, so I wrote this. Dear God,The cost of Lent was too high this yearWe wandered in a wilderness we were not prepared forLost people we were not prepared to loseExperienced new kinds of griefAnd we are not yet out…
A Sermon on King Benjamin’s Speech (Book of Mormon)
This sermon was given via video conference to the Centre Place Community of Christ congregation in Toronto, Canada on February 16, 2020. This last week, my husband and I have been watching the TV show Good Omens. I don’t know if you are familiar with that but It is about an angel and a demon…
Memes, Hymns, and Healing
A few weeks ago we sang “God, We Gather As Your People” (Community of Christ Sings, hymn 274) during church. It was one of those moments when the words just hit me in an unexpected way and I couldn’t finish singing the song. It is also known as “For All the Children” and here is…
Naming Joy: A cynic’s search for hope
In a recent conversation with my sister, we talked about the many personal struggles we are experiencing and witnessing in others. In our very connected world, the personal difficulties and setbacks we experience feel hard, but set against a backdrop of tragedy in our social networks, local issues, and national issues, it is overwhelming. I…
The Devil’s Gateway
I’m not enthusiastic about the early Christian councils or related heresies, so I decided to write my recently-assigned Christian history essay on a text that is firmly within my wheelhouse: a tract where a Christian man tells women about the sinfulness of their bodies and clothing. Tertullian’s On the Apparel of Women, written during the…
Strawberries and Resurrection
In our last house, we had a large garden with eight raised garden beds. We experimented with lots of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, but not everything we planted could survive the brutal desert summers. We probably planted about 150 strawberry plants during the 8.5 years we lived in that house. Strawberries were almost successful indoors,…
The Contemplative Heretic 