Elsa Anders Cook
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The Last Retreat
Two years ago, I began this journey with four other women in a cohort group in College of Pastoral Leaders at Austin Theological Seminary. It all started with a group of women that I met as part of The Young Clergy Women… Continue reading
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Interviewing Tips for the Pastor Who Has Never Used Skype
An earlier version of this article appeared on Fidelia’s Sisters under the title Meet the Search Committee. An updated version follows. I admit that I miss the days of the phone interview. When I first began in ministry, I never had… Continue reading
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Hang on to Each Other
I can’t quite stop myself from watching this video of the Vice President exposing his grief so tenderly and so honestly. I’ve watched it again and again and again. He’s talking to people who know grief. You can hear it in their… Continue reading
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Praising God from Sunrise to Sunset
For June 7, 2015 the Narrative Lectionary leads us to consider the inspiration of Psalm 113. There is the option to pair this reading with Luke 15:8-10 but I’m skipping over that again this week. It’s summer and so I want to use prayer… Continue reading
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The Howling of a Fierce Wind
This summer, I am honored with the opportunity to fill in as Guest Minister at Community Congregational Church in Short Hills, NJ. Their talented and dynamic Minister is enjoying a four month sabbatical. During that time, I get to fill… Continue reading
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Prayers for Growing with God
Pentecost was last Sunday. Because the Narrative Lectionary offers four-cycles of readings from the Sunday after Labor Day to the Sunday of Pentecost, we find ourselves in liminal space. We are neither here nor there. It is summer. We are in-between what was and what… Continue reading
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The Stories Civilians Need to Hear
In the short story “War Stories” in Phil Klay’s Redeployment, there is this moment of internal thought that pauses the narrative. In the middle of two battle buddies trying to get laid by their stories, there is this moment of… Continue reading
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Prayers for Pentecost Winds
It’s Pentecost! For this special day, in which we celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the Narrative Lectionary has not one — but two readings — including Acts 2:1-4 and Romans 8:18-38. What a day! These two passages came together in a… Continue reading
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Wanting to Give Up
It’s true. Over the past few weeks, when I haven’t been posting about my latest escapades of entrepreneurial ministry, I have wanted to give up. I have wanted to throw in the towel. I have seriously contemplated why I ever… Continue reading
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Normal People Don’t Talk about Death So Much
Does anyone really have that many stories about funerals? That’s what I was thinking as she told the third story. Was it really the third funeral story? I tried to retrace the steps of our conversation seated there in the… Continue reading
