writing
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Pandemic Prayers for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
We began the new year with Jeremiah. It was the same chapter even though it was a few verses earlier. There was still the invitation to remember and hold onto what might be coming. We are still in that space… Continue reading
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Twinkly Lights in Blue Pandemic Days
Several years ago, I created a devotional for the grieving and brokenhearted. I called it Twinkly Lights in Blue Days. It’s sat there in my kitchen for anyone that might have wanted it or needed in the years that followed.… Continue reading
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An Expert In My Own Grief
Expert was the word that made me laugh in her email. I do not feel like an expert in anything. I’ve rather owned that pastors are the last generalists. We dabble in this and that. We have a lot of… Continue reading
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70,000 Words
Earlier this month, I took a Memoirs 101 online class with the Writer’s League of Texas. The instructor emphasized structure and form, both of which feel like high ideals for the random assortment of memories that are currently cobbled together… Continue reading
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News From My Kitchen
Most people see Cooking with Elsa and assume it’s a cooking blog. I love to cook but on this blog you’ll find Ingredients for Worship and Recipes for Ministry and not so many actual recipes that you could cook up in your kitchen. It is, after… Continue reading
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Twinkly Lights in Blue Days
Jan Richardson lost her beloved husband Gary during Advent. It was more sudden than the wars and rumors of war that the gospel Mark hints it could be. Nobody saw it coming and the grief lingered for many more seasons.… Continue reading
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Ready, Willing and Able for Peace
We were told that there would be booms. It was one of the first things that we were told about our new home. We’ll hear the booms, they said. Booms that shouldn’t frighten us or cause alarm, but are simply… Continue reading
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Character: Essays by readers
Some time ago, the Christian Century invited readers to submit first-person narratives (under 1,000 words) reflecting on the word character. They are requesting essays from readers on other words in the future, but it was to this one that I wanted to respond.… Continue reading
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Spirituality for the Resistance
I have not felt like an activist in years. In truth, I’m not sure that I ever really felt like an activist even though ministry called for it. I couldn’t faithfully preach the gospel on Sunday without taking to the… Continue reading
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Back to Writing
When my beloved and I decided that we were going to do this thing, we were going to move across country and make a life together, I knew that I wouldn’t be in full time ministry anymore. I would leave… Continue reading
Cooking with Elsa 