Growing up in Kansas City, I experienced a unique Thanksgiving tradition. We did all the common things: the turkey, the pies, the gathering of family. But then we would bundle up, leave the house, and make the trek to “The Plaza.” Just south of downtown Kansas City, the Country Club Plaza is a beautiful fifteen-block…
Christopher Columbus was over fifty by the time he set sail across the abyss we now call the Atlantic Ocean. He had tried to convince the monarchs of Portugal and Italy to fund his exploration and was turned down multiple times by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. Everyone thought he was crazy. They…
I never thought I’d find myself in liturgy. I was raised in the Church of Christ in Texas in the 1990s. My father was raised Episcopalian in Texas in the 1960s, only because there happened to be an Episcopal church across the street from his house. My father’s father was raised Swiss Mennonite in Kansas…
During a Christmas break in college, I worked in a collectibles shop. I didn’t last long. See, I’m what some might consider clumsy. Think Lucy Ricardo knocking over porcelain figurines, but without the laugh track. Put Steve Urkel in charge of hand-blown glass ornaments repeating the “Did I do that?” punchline when they fall to…
We are in a sweet season right now with our church. God has moved us to a diverse community where, for the first time in two decades, our family blends into the crowd. This diversity surrounds us even on Sunday mornings, still considered one of the most segregated times of the week. One of the…
Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. —Psalm 95:6 NIV I still remember the soft purple cotton leotard my mom bedazzled for my first dance recital. I smiled until my face hurt when I saw the audience react in delight as my fellow dancers and I completed…