Elsa Anders Cook

  • Beginnings

    Yesterday seems like a blur. I rushed from the airport to the 2030 Clergy Network Pre-Synod Gathering. I was late so I missed worship on the beach but I was blessed to participate in two wonderful conversations. I have spent… Continue reading

  • On My Way

    This is the first of several posts that I hope to share about my journey to General Synod 28 in Tampa, Florida. I’m aware that many of our churches in the United Church of Christ don’t really understand what goes… Continue reading

  • Prayer Power

    I just started reading The Odd and Wondrous Calling. This morning, before I prayed, I read Martin Copenhaver’s insights on his seminary prayer group — and I admit I got a little teary and a little jealous. I couldn’t quite… Continue reading

  • Trinity Sunday

    Trinity by revelsaapeters Jan Richardson has a way with her words. She also has a way with images and her words particularly caught my attention in wondering what it means to try to explain the Trinity.  In 2008, she pondered… Continue reading

  • More Than Words

    Yesterday, as I was driving home from vacation, I drove past a similar hotel welcome sign. It was the same chain but the text only announced: We Love Having You With Us. It caught my attention while I was driving.… Continue reading

  • Ontological

    In today’s New York Times, David Brooks gave words to something I’ve been struggling with lately. In his own words, it’s not about you.   It’s the concept I’ve been pondering as I just finished reading John McKnight and Peter Block’s… Continue reading

  • The Call to Justice

    Last night, I got a text message from a friend at the Human Rights Campaign Clergy Call. You may have heard me rave about her before. She is truly fantastic.  The text message told me simply that this gathering of clergy trying to… Continue reading

  • Poured Out for You

    I will never forget bumping into my New Testament Professor on a train to Philadelphia. He lives there. It made sense for him to be on that train at rush hour. I wasn’t where I should be and it was… Continue reading

  • Praying for Peace

    I’ll never forget where I was on the evening that Osama bin Laden was captured and killed. On that night, I was crawling into bed before a  week-long workshop in conflict mediation. I would begin this training early the next… Continue reading

  • Practice Resurrection

    I love this poem by Wendell Berry. I love that last line that reminds me that Easter is not a day or a moment but something we choose to do again and again. Easter is something that we practice after… Continue reading