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Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

September 2018

September 19, 2018

Leonard Cohen’s Holy and Broken Hallelujah

My first “Hallelujah” was sung by Rufus Wainwright in Shrek. I was a preteen and...

September 18, 2018

Ready or Not for the Days of Awe

By now, I could have read Psalm 27 at least twenty-seven times, once a day...

August 2018

August 30, 2018

Cathedrals of Consumption

Many years ago now, not long after I had been received into the Orthodox Church,...

August 27, 2018

Jesus in Disguise

My memory of last summer is filled with Jesus. Jesus in many guises behind the...

August 23, 2018

The Vision Will Not Disappoint

It is a miracle that we do not love; love is the watermark in the...

August 21, 2018

Meditations of a Library Assistant in the BS Aisle

As I shuffle through the stacks pushing my cart of books along, awkwardly favoring one...

August 02, 2018

Abandoning Prayer

If you can keep your faith once you’ve stopped using prayer as an attempt to...

July 2018

July 26, 2018

Rubble and Re-Creation

In the beginning, when God was creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was...

July 16, 2018

Pennies from Heaven

I’ve never really been into crosses. Like fire hydrants or Starbucks, there are so many,...

July 12, 2018

Inspired by Rachel Held Evans’s Inspired

Fridays used to be pizza and a movie nights, growing up. My dad would bring...

July 11, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 9, Psalms, In the End

Thinking of the psalms as a way to cycle through the entire range of human...

July 07, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 8: Psalms In the Beginning

I always privately hated the psalms. Most of them, anyway. As a teenager, I’d leaf...

June 2018

June 26, 2018

The Pope’s Call to Saintliness

Did you know that you're meant to be a saint? So says Pope Francis, in...

June 25, 2018

Monasticism In Lockdown America, Part 7: Holy Fool

Hank’s trembling confession that he’d be killing God if he killed another inmate had charged...

June 21, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 6, Icons

The jail staff asked if I would meet with some of the guys in the...

June 14, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 5, Holy Elders

With their white beards and deep lines in their faces, the older men stand out...

December 2017

December 26, 2017

Jews Without Jerusalem

Unimaginable. That’s precisely why I will imagine it. Shake them, shake the books, shake the...

September 2017

September 25, 2017

Questions for the One Who Waits

Psalm 27 is read by Jews from the beginning of the Jewish month of Elul...

September 13, 2017

There is Only This Present Moment

I’m trying to trust in God. My husband has had chronic fatigue and chest pain...

August 2017

August 30, 2017

My Tears Had Names

Guest Post The phone rang. My newborn must have been asleep—I have no recollection of...

August 03, 2017

Smelling A Rat

This post originally appeared on “Good Letters” on October 15, 2014. About a year ago...

August 01, 2017

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Before a metastasizing cancer had fully whittled away her quality of life, my mother left...

July 2017

July 26, 2017

The Baptisms on Pentecost

Our guests at the baptism on Sunday agreed, all of our friends and family, many...

July 20, 2017

The Businessman’s Faith

One year ago, I abandoned the nonprofit and academic world to become a freelance copywriter,...

July 03, 2017

Nonviolence and the Virtue of Hope

It was nonviolence that initially brought me to my spiritual director, Fr. Bill Shannon. I...

June 2017

June 13, 2017

Do Atheists Dream of Pearly Gates?

Yes even when I don’t believe there is a place in me inaccessible to unbelief...

May 2017

May 24, 2017

Alleluia for the Easter Season

I used to find Easter a letdown. Lent is so full of the self-improvement activities...

May 16, 2017

Tweeting my Theology

When I went to seminary, there was concern. Friends whispered. Had I gone rogue? Or...

May 11, 2017

The “Oh, There You Are” Prayer

The love of God is scattershot. It is the love of the artist toward her...

May 04, 2017

Singing the Qur’an in Different Voices

I sat through the meeting distracted, nervous. I should have been at ease. After all,...