John Garland is the pastor of San Antonio Mennonite Fellowship in downtown San Antonio. In a recent essay in Christianity Today, Garland describes Semillas (Spanish for “seeds”), which is his church’s ministry to refugees who’ve made the long and dangerous journey across the border. Their exodus from Central America can take as long as a…
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“Get dressed in something nice,” my mother said through my bedroom door, “We’re going to church.” Somewhere, I’m sure, a needle scratched clear off a record. Save for a Holy Roman shotgun wedding, where even elementary-aged me could sense the bride and groom were about to make a terrible decision, I’d never gone to church…
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Back by popular demand (okay, Teer’s Mom asked us to do it again), the Crackers and Grape Juice Advent Devotional Series for 2019 will take the writing and preaching of Stanley Hauerwas as our inspiration. Jason, Teer, Taylor, Johanna, and anyone else we’ve managed to wrangle will help you anticipate the coming again of the…
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Four years ago, my husband and I discovered we were expecting our fourth daughter. Unlike many of my sisters who struggle with infertility, I am one for whom fertility came easy. I wish I could tell you the news of another pregnancy, in a seven year period (felt more like every year) was welcomed news….
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Isaiah 9:8-21 Rev. Fleming Rutledge says, “Advent is not for the faint of heart.” Contrary to the sentimentality we’ve ascribed to the season, primarily focusing on sweet baby Jesus, advent begins in the dark, forcing us to wrestle with the depth and breadth of the human condition as we await Christ’s second coming. “To grasp…
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Says Fleming: “Advent is designed to show that the meaning of Christmas is diminished to the vanishing point if we are not willing to take a fearless inventory of the darkness.” We often understand Advent as a season of preparation for Christmas and our celebration of Jesus’ birth. And surely it is that, in part. …
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With haste, she packed her belongings into a duffel. She folded her jeans and some blouses and wondered how long she’d fit into them. She zipped her bag shut and sadly glanced at the wedding dress hanging in her closet. Seeing it, she knew it would be too small on her wedding day, should that…
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I could hear them from some distance away, even before I climbed the cold, brick steps that led to the lawn. I had thought it was going to be a celebration. I was expecting joy. Instead I was left with…longing. I was expecting joy. It was nearly Christmas after all. Loudly colored lights traced several…
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Being a pastor is a lot like having a family member who is constantly in the tabloids. I mean— here I am with this public relationship with someone who routinely shocks and outrages a reliable percentage of the population. While I can only guess what kinds of questions relatives of Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein…
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