May the words that I speak remind others that they are beloved.

If I’m not cultivating an open heart and watching for the helpers, the teachers, and the angels, I may miss them when I need them the most.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but something began to change.

Let us imagine washing the feet of someone who has wronged us. Their feet, too, are calloused and muddy from the road.

Once, during my ministerial internship, a woman I’ll call Clara came up to me during the hustle and bustle before the Sunday service. I knew that Clara struggled with anxiety; now, in great distress, she told me how anxious she was and that she didn’t know what to do. She was frantic, and I...

People of faith are experts in human kindness.

Mental illnesses are sometimes called “no-casserole diseases.” People don’t bring casseroles to homes where someone is hospitalized for mental problems.

In a world of scarcity, interconnection and mutual aid become critical for survival.

Love cannot fix everything, but it can keep us company.

Safety is not tied to our capacity to watch our neighbors, but rather based on our capacity to truly look out for one another.

Conflict resolution is in fact one of the greatest things that you can accomplish in your life and in your relationship. [W]hen I view people as not bringing conflict up, I think it’s being unfaithful to the relationship. I think it’s an abdication of your role in the relationship, and you are...

We celebrate our desires to stretch our wings towards where we wish to fly and soar free. And thus, we make a bridge. We affirm our commitment to remain connected to those who are still earth-bound and captive, remembering that a bridge may be a footpath or an umbrella. And thus, we offer a bridge.

Sometimes, there is no reprieve from the pain of this world. Sometimes, it is too big and too obvious to ignore.

Arm's length: What was once a defensive or suspicious expression has now become a gesture of care, an indication of love and protection.

Part of being in community is noticing what's needed. Part of being in community is doing what is necessary but unclaimed.

One day, I’ll have to care for my mother as she once cared for me. I’m not ready to handle the truth that our relationship must change.

I miss the way things were, and I know they’ll never really be the same.

Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.

In this community, we hold hope close. We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us. We don’t always know just what to do, but that will not mean that we are lost in the wilderness. We rely on the certainty beneath, the foundation of our values and ethics. —Rev. Theresa I.

A lot of us feel like our lives should have come with instructions. Or maybe they did, but we lost the only copy a long time ago.