Wendell Berry on Specialization
There has been much talk of experts in the past two years—applauding them, cursing them, defending them, questioning them. It is tempting to form strong opinions based only on our current crises and today’s thought-leaders, but we always benefit from engaging with past thinking to inform our current situation. I would like to engage some thoughts from Wendell Berry’s 45-year-old work in order to gain wisdom on how to approach our...
A Chapter from the Book of Nature
Last spring, the trustees of my church decided the bushes in front of the parsonage we call home had overstayed their welcome. Over several days various men dug and tugged and clipped until the bushes were gone. In their wake was a sullen strip of dry dirt. It called to me like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. I knew it just needed a little love and it would be as good as new. Although I had a baby on the way and knew I would not have...
Mothering in Church: Do Not Grow Weary in Doing Good
Many seasons of life present us with difficult situations. Caring for elderly parents, battling chronic illness, entering or ending a career—such circumstances all present unique challenges, and they can make church attendance and fellowship with the body of Christ difficult to achieve. Mothering young children is another season that can present a challenge as we strive toward spiritual growth and community with a local body of...
A Few First Steps in Hospitality
Last year—yes, Lockdown-2020—my husband and I read Rosaria Butterfield’s The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in our Post-Christian World. The timing could not have seemed worse! How were we supposed to host people in our homes and live out the beautifully bountiful form of generous hospitality that the Butterfields exemplify when many people in our community did not consider being closer than...
How the Trinity Changes Prayer
Until recently I had apparently been under the unconscious impression that close study of the Trinity was needed only if I encountered some abstract, theological question about it that puzzled me. Otherwise, I was content to affirm the doctrine in faith and go on about the seemingly more relevant aspects of the Christian life. I had been perfectly content with this arrangement until I recently encountered a puzzling question about the...
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