Holy Ghost Grab-Bag
Can't We Talk It Over (Just NOT in Bed)?
A few weeks ago, an email went out at Yale Divinity School, inviting students to a meeting about “Ministry in a Sexualized Workplace.” We were to talk about sexual harassment, safety, and other related issues. A student specifically asked one of the assistant deans to hold it, and he responded. So we gathered in an empty classroom with our lunches and our backpacks, greeted the two local clergy women that he invited in as resources, and waited. He opened with a question.
You know that awkward moment when nobody speaks up?
That didn’t happen.
Just about everybody had something to say.
Jumping Ship
There are certain life markers and statistics that make me feel old: my ninth wedding anniversary is coming up, as is my tenth college reunion; I have high school friends with four kids. But the most remarkable one of these facts is this: I’m only 30, but I’ve already been a pastor in two denominations.
Body Beautiful
I struggle with the notion of embodied faith, not because I don’t like the idea, but because I don’t like my body. My body is a place of deep imperfection and frustration. It’s never thin enough, perky enough, cute enough, strong enough, or beautiful enough.
As the chaplain to a small women’s college my misperceptions of my own body rise to the surface on a regular basis. My day-to-day actions set an example for the women around me. The amount of rest I get, my fitness level, my stress level, and my eating habits are of as much interest to the students as my theological knowledge or spiritual well being. We often imagine that the minds of small children are like little sponges, absorbing everything around them, and assume that by college age this formation is done. But college students are much the same, soaking up the adult world around them, trying on identities to determine which ones might fit. I know that just as they try on the personas of the other students, they will also try on my identity to see if it mirrors what they would like to be themselves. I would hate to find out that my body issues reinforced or supported the same self-loathing behavior in anyone else.
The Pastor's Bookcase
When visiting a friend's office, I enjoy snooping through perusing the shelves. Sometimes I find something that is exactly what I need for a particular situation. Sometimes I'm reminded of old favorites that I had nearly forgotten.
This week we asked several young clergy women serving ministries outside of the parish to recommend resources that have been useful to them in the last year or so. Go ahead, snoop around, you know you want to! (Feel free to add your own recommendations to the comments.)
