Women, Gifted to Lead ~ A Reading List

The books and websites on this list were recommended to me by women and men I respect. I haven’t read everything (yet!), but I’ve been working my way through the list. I’ve put an asterisk next to the ones I’ve read so far and recommend.

I’m grateful for these words, explanations, illustrations, and Scripture commentaries that are helping to articulate what I already believed in my bones to be true:

God gifts women to serve at every level of church leadership. A church that doesn’t urge women to use their God-given gifts is anemic, unhealthy, and missing out on a full-bodied church experience. History and patriarchy have perpetuated this enormous loss for both women and men in the church and society. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Not anymore.

Here are some books that will open your eyes to the faulty ways the church goes about reading, interpreting, and teaching the Bible, especially as it pertains to women:

*The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight

Discovering Biblical Equality: Biblical, Theological, Cultural, and Practical Perspectives by Christa L. McKirland (Associate Editor) Ronald W. Pierce (Editor) Cynthia Long Westfall (Editor)


*Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry by Tara Beth Leach


The Equality Workbook: Freedom in Christ from the Oppression of Patriarchy by Helga and Bob Evans

Finally Feminist: A Pragmatic Christian Understanding of Gender by John G. Stackhouse, Jr.

*Gender Roles and the People of God: Rethinking What We Were Taught about Men and Women in the Church by Alice Matthews


*Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women by Carolyn Custis James

Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination by William Witt

***The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr

Malestrom: Manhood Swept Into the Currents of a Changing World by Carolyn Custis James

The Ministry of Women in the New Testament: Reclaiming the Biblical Vision for Church Leadership by Dorothy Lee

Ordaining Women by B.T. Roberts

Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle’s Vision for Men and Women in Christ by Cynthia Westfall

Paul, Women, & Wives: Marriage and Women’s Ministry in the Letters of Paul by Craig S. Keener

Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians by Kenneth E. Bailey

Reclaiming Eve: The Identity and Calling of Women in the Kingdom of God by Suzanne Burden

*Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose by Aimee Byrd

*Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision for Women: Fresh Perspectives on Disputed Texts by Lucy Peppiatt

Slaves, Women Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis by William J. Webb

Womanist Midrash by Dr. Wilda C. Gafney

A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year A by Dr. Wilda C. Gafney


The Women’s Lectionary by Ashley M. Wilcox

Others:

*Beyond Sex Roles by Gilbert Bilezikian

Great Women of the Christian Faith by Edith Deen

How I Changed My Mind about Women in Leadership: Compelling Stories from Prominent Evangelicals by Alan F. Johnson (Editor)

Junia is Not Alone by Scot McKnight

Women in a Patriarchal World by Elaine Storkey

Online Resources:

Marg Mowczko–a website exploring the biblical theology of Christian egalitarianism.

The Junia Project–provides support, encouragement, and biblically-based resources to help women thrive in all areas of life.

CBE International–Proclaiming God’s design for equal partnership between men and women.

“One in Christ: A Week of Mutuality,” a blog series by Rachel Held Evans dedicated to discussing an egalitarian view of gender—including relevant biblical texts and practical applications. The goal is to show how scripture, tradition, reason, and experience all support a posture of equality toward women, one that favors mutuality rather than hierarchy, in the home, Church, and society.

This post includes affiliate links for Bookshop, an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores.

The Power of Self-Reflection: 13 Questions to Ask Yourself (during and after a Pandemic)

Remember that elevator scene from You’ve Got Mail? The one where Joe Fox, acted by Tom Hanks, and his girlfriend get stuck in an elevator with two other people and they each tell what they’ll do “if I ever get out of here.” I keep thinking about that scene.

“I’m gonna start speaking to my mama,” one woman says.

“I’m marrying Irene. I love her. I should marry her. I don’t know what’s been stopping me,” says the elevator attendant.

When Joe’s girlfriend interrupts his heart-felt survival wish to blurt out that she’s getting her eyes lasered when she gets out, Joe realizes he’s with the wrong woman.

Joe later writes to Kathleen: “There was a man sitting in the elevator with me who knew exactly what he wanted, and I found myself wishing I were as lucky as he.”

Intense life experiences illuminate the essential and dim the superficial. But we can easily miss the chance to extract meaning from our conflict and questions if we don’t stop and reflect. One man in hospice said cancer eventually led him to transform neutral moments in life into meaningful ones.

This pandemic is our elevator moment.

Educational reformer John Dewey once wrote that we “we do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.” Teachers, spiritual leaders, athletes, business professionals, poets, and scientists already know the value of self-reflection.

Poet and novelist May Sarton wrote in her published journals, “friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is time alone in which to explore and to discover what is happening or has happened.”

When I was a teacher, I often assigned “reflections” to my middle school students after field trips, science experiments, or completing a novel as a way of shifting lived knowledge into their longer term memory. Studies show that reflecting on past experiences aid more in learning and personal growth than shoring up new knowledge.

In ancient history, the Hebrews celebrated a festival called the Feast of Booths. They wanted to remember their years of wandering in the desert when the temple of God was a temporary structure called a tabernacle. Other versions of the Bible translate the word “booth” as “shelter.”

After their experience of lostness and despair, they continued to celebrate the Feast of Shelters even after they were safe, secure and settled back in their own land. Why bother remembering something so difficult? Those of us who have lived through 2020 may also benefit in the future from instituting a similar Feast of Shelters to reflect each year on what we learned when the threat of sickness and our shuttered doors forced us to educate our children at home and erase every plan from our calendars.

Experts agree that reflection is an essential practice for those desiring a vibrant interior life. Professor Graham Gibbs created a model for personal reflection called the “Reflective Cycle.” His chart includes:

1. Description: What happened?

2. Feelings: What were you thinking and feeling?

3. Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience?

4. Analysis: What sense can you make of the situation?

5. Conclusion: What did you learn? What would you do differently?

6. Action: If this happened again, what would you do?

As the tide of our society ebbs and flows around new guidelines and policies, fumbling for a new normal, we can benefit from self-reflection.

If we have the discipline (and courage) to carve out time to ask, write our answers, listen, and maybe even pray, these questions can guide us:

  1. What’s been good? (i.e. gains, good surprises, successes)
  2. What been hard? (i.e. losses, fears, worries, deaths, disappointments, inconveniences, discomforts, failures)
  3. What has changed? (i.e. job, school, new skills, family dynamics, friendships, church, community, etc.)
  4. How has my relationship with technology, social media, and the digital life changed? What will I abandon? What will I retain?
  5. How have I seen or experienced God, religion, or the spiritual life through this experience?
  6. What have I learned about my family, children, spouse, neighbors, roommates, or community?
  7. What have I learned about myself? What have I needed most during this time?
  8. Which books, movies, or songs have comforted me at this time?
  9. If this happens again, what will I do differently?
  10. How have I experienced healing?
  11. How have I experienced pain?
  12. What changes do I want to carry over with me to the other side?
  13. What changes do I need to make so that can happen?

Before the world opens again completely (assuming that day comes), we can grasp this unique opportunity to pause and do some soul searching:

What have we learned, how have we grown, and what will we carry with us into the future?

The Writer’s Social Media Dilemma

Like most people, I have a stormy relationship with social media. Because of social media, I’ve connected with like-minded strangers I never would have met before. I’ve had ways to publish my writing that I wouldn’t have had during pre-internet days when the publishing gates were staunchly guarded. And I’ve bonded and bled online with people when real-life humans were hard to find.

But I know social media scratches and pecks at my soul. Lately, I’ve been suffering from a kind of social media Tourettes Syndrome where I find myself blurting out thoughts about people in my head that I’d never say aloud. What if I typed my first thoughts? Have you ever been in a completely quiet room and had the urge to scream as loud as you can? Or stood on a balcony and had the fear that you might suddenly lose your mind and leap the railing to soar through the air? Sometimes I’m afraid I’ll type the first thing that comes to mind when I’m on social media. And the first thing that comes to mind isn’t usually loving, neighborly, or kind. This is a signal that something isn’t well with my soul. It doesn’t elicit greater kindness, compassion, or love, but usually triggers the opposite.

My kids are still not old enough to have phones (which, of course, is debatable), but I’m dreading the future for them—and for me as their parent. Modern technology vies for our time and attention in seductive and subtle ways. I personally struggle with this addiction as a grown woman and have tried fasting or detoxing from social media during different times. Each time has been illuminating. Each time, I wished I didn’t have to check social media so often.

I mainly use social media for my work (at least that’s what I tell myself). I’m a freelance writer. As a writer and author, I’m told I must “build my platform.” Most publishers will not take a chance on a writer without a certain number of followers on the various social media platforms. Every job has a list of undesirable tasks a person must do if they want to continue in the job. The writer Elizabeth Gilbert calls these types of tasks eating the “s*** sandwich.” My actor husband said he and his actor friends often talked about putting on the waders to wade through the s***. But does the requirement to rack up followers and develop a brand and persona on social media strip down the soul of the artist beyond recognition? What’s the opportunity cost of bleeding out on social media?

Before I wrote publicly, I was a social media ghost. I rarely posted online or engaged at all. In fact, when I ran into friends I hadn’t seen for a long time and mentioned something they had posted on social media, they looked shocked that I knew that tidbit about them because I had never “liked” or commented on any of their posts. From then on, I began at least “liking” posts to counter my previous status as a social media voyeur. But when I started a blog five years ago, I had to not just creep out from under the social media rock, but scramble up—naked—and repeatedly ask people to listen to me. This is what “building a platform” felt like initially—mostly humiliating and very out of character for a person who values privacy and despises showiness.

My husband and I folded three small mountains of laundry last night as we started to watch the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma the internet is buzzing about these days. We’ve both done some homework already on this issue, so we found it a bit cheesy and overwrought (the dramatizations especially). I found Cal Newport’s book, Digital Minimalism, to be much more insightful and highly recommend reading or listening to it. But I suppose that for those who are new to this, watching the documentary might be a good entry point for more discussion.

Let’s say we don’t want to delete every social media account or stop using the internet–how can we step onto our small or large platforms with integrity and intact souls?

We start by acknowledging we are weak. We also accept that experts developed these tools to manipulate our (natural and good) human need for connection, affirmation, and pleasure. Because of this, it helps to intentionally set strict personal boundaries for ourselves and our children.

Will we take our phones with us: to the bathroom, to bed, to the dinner table, to the meeting, on our dates, to the play date, to school, to our friend’s house, to our cars while driving, or while we exercise? Why or why not? For what purpose?

Ideally, how much time would we like to be spending on each social media platform or website? What’s the inherent value of each one? (Cal Newport goes more into this as a measure of how we decide where we spend our time.)

Are there any times of day when we’re not accessible to others? When are those times? What might be the benefit of this?

I don’t have all this figured out. This a conflict I deal with on a daily basis, whether realized or not. But for those of us who identify as “creatives,” it’s worth reflecting and wrestling with these questions, mainly because of the way our souls and creativity may wither under the weight.

Although the poet and writer May Sarton lived before the age of social media, she had the same complicated questions about success and achievement as a writer. In Journal of a Solitude, she wrote,

“I have become convinced since that horrible review … that I have been overconcerned with the materialistic aspects of bringing out this novel, the dangerous hope that it become a bestseller, or that for once; I might get a leg up from the critics, the establishment, and not have once more to see the work itself stand alone and make its way, heart by heart, as it is discovered by a few people with all the excitement of a person who finds a wildflower in the woods that he has discovered on his own. From my isolation to the isolation of someone somewhere who will find my work there is a true communion. It is free of ‘ambition’ .. This is what I can hope for and I hope for nothing more or less.” (p. 67-68)

As writers, we want our stories to find readers. We write from our own isolation to the isolation of someone else in hope that we won’t feel so alone. Social media can provide communion and connection, so we can’t say it’s entirely evil. But we’re naïve to believe social media has our best interests in mind. The question is: how can we stop being manipulated and instead use social media to invite wonder and connection, love and compassion? This may be impossible, but I’m hoping that with the proper guards in place, social media can connect more readers–even if it’s just one–to writing that illuminates their own souls.

The Writer's Social Media Dilemma: Does the requirement to rack up followers and develop a brand and persona on social media strip down the soul of the artist beyond recognition? What’s the opportunity cost of bleeding out on social media? #thesocialdilemma #socialmedia #writersandsocialmedia

*Contains Amazon affiliate links

Homeschooling Resources that Invite Freedom & Peace (for those of us who never-EVER-planned to homeschool)

Although I never wanted to homeschool, I used to follow homeschooling moms on Instagram. I mostly ogled over the unschooling types who raise their babies in the deep of the woods or on the salt of the sea. Their children sketched downy woodpeckers or lupine wildflowers under the shade of a cottonwood or banyan tree. “Why don’t you just unfollow them?” my husband finally said one night before bed as I showed him yet another post displaying all I WASN’T doing as a mom. It was a beautiful life, it just couldn’t represent my kids or my life. I unfollowed those accounts and felt lighter and more free to be who we are: a family who lives an ordinary life in a mid-sized city with chain-link fence around our modest backyard.

Back in May, my friend in Denver told me she had decided to homeschool. The thought had never occurred to me. I’m a former public school teacher and I adore our neighborhood public school. But since my number one con on my pro/con list was “I don’t want to,” I decided I should push past wants and consider homeschooling as an option. The list of pros seemed lengthy–flexibility, consistency in a wonky Covid world, the ability to tailor lessons to my kids, etc, but paper and lists wouldn’t change my personality and it certainly wouldn’t change the personality of my strong-willed children. I mean, I can’t even get them to put their shoes on, why would I expect them to learn anything from me?

But Time has a way of kneading our desires; and giving that dough time to rest helped me adapt and shift my expectations of life–not as it should be, but life as it is. And life right now is complicated. Long story short: we decided to homeschool.

As a researcher and resource-collector, I tried to listen to many different podcasts about homeschooling. I confess many led to groans and eye-rolls on my part. Some homeschoolers can come across as having a superiority complex with a fear of public schools. But I found some simple resources that led to peace and freedom. All the resources I’m sharing here represent those types of resources.

Here’s my philosophy of education in a nutshell: Children are naturally curious. They want to learn. If we chase their curiosity (and ours), find a good math curriculum, read LOTS of good books, and talk about those books, we will educate our children well. This feels very do-able to me.

My children are in pre-k, kindergarten, and second grade, although many of these resources will help children of other grades. I’ve taught 4th-8th grade and have my teaching certificate in K-9, so I do have experience teaching–just not these ages and not my own children. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far:

Some Freeing Podcasts for the Reluctant Homeschooler:

Brave Writer Podcast: 55 Things I Did Not Do as a Homeschooler, 61 Things I Did RIGHT in My Homeschool, Morning Routines that Support Your Homeschool and Family, One Thing Principle

Homeschool Sisters Podcast: You Don’t Have to Do It All: Getting Started with Homeschooling

Read Aloud Revival: 10 Homeschooling Mistakes I’ve Made (so you can avoid them)

A Few Books to Inspire Peace:

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life by Peter Gray

Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Teaching from Rest: A Homeschoolers Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie

Basic Curriculum I’m Cobbling Together (apparently this is called “hack-schooling”):

The Routine: I plan to follow a routine, not a schedule, as Julie Bogart talks about, although I did buy this teacher planner for myself and really love planning. Adam will take the kids the first hour for science and social studies while I work on my own writing projects in the morning. After we transition from dad to mom, I’ll start them out with snack and “table time” where we’ll do a read aloud and work on reading, writing and math. After that we’ll do lunch, more read aloud, quiet reading time, then art, other projects, watch movies, go to the library, play games, or have time for free play. I’m hoping we can squeeze in some camping trips and study about the places we visit. I want to follow curiosity like Alice followed the white rabbit (guess what we’re reading aloud right now…?).

Math:

Math Mammoth ($38 total for two workbooks—an extra $9 of more online resources) for my 2nd grader–came highly recommended in a homeschooling Facebook group I joined
Math Games: Sum Swamp, Monopoly, others; mostly do games and play with K and pre-schooler
Supplement with Khan Academy (free online)

Language Arts:

For my non-readers:
Phonics Pathways
Erasable books to practice writing numbers and letters
Unicorn Handwriting book
Leap Frog: Letter Factory DVD
Phonics flashcards I found at a thrift store

Read-Alouds: I plan to read aloud a variety of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction and discuss, being sure to touch on plot, characters, parts of speech, devices like alliteration, metaphor, simile, etc. We already do this right after lunch and before bed, but instead of always having them select the books, I’ll read aloud a selection of my own.

Journals: We’ll use these journals (pictured above) to interact with and reflect on the things we’re learning and reading. I’ll just have my four-year-old draw a picture, and I’ll have my kindergartner dictate to me until she can write for herself. I’ve heard great things about The Writing Revolution–it’s currently in my cart.

Copy Work: I may also try having them do “copy work,” in these journals and have them select some of their own quotes, dialogue, or passages to copy. This blog post from The Unlikely Homeschool explains copy work well.

Quiet Reading Time (aka “D.E.A.R.” or “S.S.R.”): We’ll continue our quiet reading time after lunch each day, which we’ve been doing for the past few months. The kids grab books and read (or look at pictures if they can’t read yet) for thirty minutes. They earn a sticker and after five stickers they get to pick something from the treasure box (snacks and trinkets I bought at the dollar store). Dollar Tree sells simple sticker charts with stickers, FYI.

Poetry Tea Time: I’ll try out doing a weekly Poetry Tea Time, which Julie Bogart discusses in this podcast. Basically you just light a candle, pull out some treats and put out a bunch of poetry books. The kids select poems they want to read aloud.

Science & Social Studies:

Core Knowledge curriculum is available for free download online, so I’ll use that and the core standards as a guide. We’ll also check out tons of books from the library and take relevant fieldtrips. My husband Adam will be teaching them the first hour of the day, so I’ll collaborate with him on science and social studies. He’ll start out the year with a unit on insects. I’ll also use the book And Social Justice for All, by Lisa Van Engen, to teach about social justice issues like immigration, poverty, race, disabilities, and health care. Lisa is a teacher, so this would be a great supplement to a social studies curriculum.

Art, Music, etc.:

After quiet reading time in the afternoons, we’ll work on art projects, play games, go to the library, or go for a hike. I may pick an artist, composer, or inventor to study each week.

Socializing:

Our kids have tons of friends on our street, so I’ll try and coordinate some “recess” time since they’ll all be home doing remote learning.

Online Resources I’m Exploring:

Duo Lingo—free language lessons

Hoffman Academy—free online piano lessons

Ambleside Online—free Charlotte Mason curriculum

Study Birds with The Cornell Lab: free science/nature activities for cooped-up kids

Core Knowledge Curriculum–free language arts, history, geography and science curriculum for K-8

Go Noodle–free fun movement and mindfulness videos for wiggle breaks

K12 Reader–TONS of free reading and writing resources including printable spelling lists, lined paper, worksheets, and grammar

Khan Academy–free online math courses, lessons, & practice

Curiosity Stream (starting at $2.99 a month)–stream documentaries

Field Trip Zoom ($49.95 annual membership)

Signing Time Videos ($)

Epic Online Library ($)—personalized reading for kids 12 and under.

Starfall ($35 per year)–reading for pre-K-3

Project Gutenberg–library of over 60,000 free e-books

Brave Writer–some free resources and some for purchase

Explode the Code ($65 for 8 books and online access)–many people recommended this curriculum for kids who are learning to read

What other resources (especially free ones) would you recommend that have helped you to find peace and freedom in homeschooling?

I will be updating this list periodically.

Podcasts, books, and curriculum ideas for the reluctant homeschooler.

*This post includes Amazon affiliate links, but no other affiliates.

Image by No-longer-here from Pixabay

Chronically Ill During a Pandemic: Will You Still Remember Me on the Other Side? {guest post}

By Heather Legge | Instagram: @heatherand2girls

As a person with serious chronic illness, I’ve been asked how the Coronavirus has affected me. To be honest: not much. These hard circumstances we are facing as a country are sometimes the daily norm for the chronically ill. Even in times when we’re not facing a pandemic, as a whole we tend to struggle with loneliness, isolation, financial insecurity, and more. For many with chronic illness, we’ve had years to come to terms with our circumstances. You haven’t. So I want to encourage you as we continue to live out this (to quote my HR director) “adventurous time.”

A huge percentage of the country is experiencing job loss, financial insecurity, fear, isolation, loneliness, and uncertainty. Feeling lonely, stuck, and unable (or scared) to resume ordinary life is difficult. Your feelings are valid. You may feel anger, sadness, or fear. But you also might feel relieved that you don’t have as many places to go; your to do list is cut short. It’s okay to feel these emotions. And they may change minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day. It’s a new (hopefully not forever) life, and it takes time to get used to.

The pandemic hasn’t been a big disruption to my life, it’s more of an extension of the way things were. Some days I forget about Covid-19 because it’s fairly usual for me to not leave my apartment often. While I experienced anxiety when the virus started to ramp up, it didn’t take long for me to realize my daily life wouldn’t be much different.

I do want to be clear that I have been privileged during this time to keep my job (and work from home) and to have found a bit of financial security (I was approved for disability literally right before life shut down). Chronic illness leading to reduced work and financial problems are sufferings I struggled with for many years and I’m thankful to have some resolution and peace. They are also hardships that didn’t happen overnight, but over an extended period of time. And resolution was over a long period of time too. You may find yourself in your current situation overnight. We all need endurance for our struggles, and this might be the beginning of your struggle.

The answers won’t come quickly. My heart has been incredibly heavy for many people experiencing hardship right now, and the ways I have been able to help in even the tiniest way is to be able to look at my own suffering and see and remember how God provides. Physical healing hasn’t been a reality for me, but God’s provision has looked like peace and acknowledging at the end of each day I had what I needed. What I think I need each day is different from what I have, and that’s also part of the acknowledgment and remembering of God’s provision.

I’ve learned how to sit with my suffering, and this has been especially helpful during shelter in place orders. When I find myself becoming anxious over data and news reports, I retreat to a quiet place and remember that each breath and moment is a gift.

While most of my days are currently unchanged, what is different for me is that I feel more noticed and more like a valued human being. I had become accustomed to being forgotten at times. The pandemic has opened my life up in a new way because I can more easily access activities. For example, there were many Sundays I didn’t go to church because I was in too much pain or was too exhausted, and now I can choose to watch the service online.

I’ve also noticed lately that people in the community have remembered me. There have been times in the past where I’ve laid on my couch, so sick, and unable to cook or get groceries and needed help. Now, because I am considered high-risk for the Coronavirus, there are friends and coworkers who text me when they are going to the grocery store to see what I need. I appreciate this immensely, but I struggle with why we didn’t care so much for each other until now–myself included. I can do a better job at remembering others.

What has become customary in the midst of a pandemic, I hope will be remembered when we emerge on the other side of social distancing. I will remember how my work showed me hospitality and kindness by making sure I was safe at home and how it is possible to have get-togethers remotely. I’ve enjoyed zoom groups. It’s easier for me to commit to a remote meet up when I don’t have much energy. What if in the future our small group in-person gatherings could also include someone calling in from their computer or phone? I’ll remember how people showed me love by making sure I had what I needed. I’ll remember conversations via Facetime, deepening friendships I may have missed out on.

These are difficult times, and more than ever, I have seen people loving one another and people reaching out to those who cannot leave their homes. When life re-opens in stages, let’s continue to love our neighbors. Let’s continue to extend hospitality, maybe in more ways than we thought possible.

About Heather:

Heather Legge is a storyteller at heart with a desire to create a warm place for people who experience loneliness and feelings of isolation during hard circumstances. Sorrow and hope, suffering and joy, grief, and love; all can coexist. Raised in New England, she lives in Virginia with her two middle school aged daughters, two cats, and a hedgehog. Heather has several serious chronic illnesses that have shaped her story and her desire to truly live each small moment. Heather graduated from Wells College in 2001 with a B.A. in Public Policy, concentrating in social policy and bioethics. You can find more from Heather at www.livingthesmallmoments.com and on Instagram @heatherand2girls.

Image by Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

30+ African American Churches to “Visit” Virtually

I asked on social media for recommendations for some outstanding preachers, pastors, and priests who also happen to be African American. If you are white, might I humbly suggest skipping your regular church service to join one of these churches on Sunday? Or at the very least, listen to one of the sermons an evening this week?

Sometimes God cracks open kairos moments in history. Kairos in Greek means “an opportune moment.” For the first time in history, we can visit one another’s churches all around the world to listen, lament, and learn–virtually. This is kairos, an opportune time.

These links will take you to the latest YouTube channels, Facebook Lives, or pre-recorded sermons for various African American-led churches around the United States. Many services include worship through music, dance, and the spoken word. Some of these churches have podcasts, so perhaps subscribe so you can supplement your own church sermon each week. If you’re easing up on social distancing, you could gather a small group of friends to watch in a backyard so you can discuss afterward.

White Christians have an opportunity to grow in empathy through virtual proximity. Below this list are preachers who may not pastor a church, but guest preach or speak. Both lists are far from exhaustive, so feel free to share more in the comments.

Check out these men and women of God, their churches, and their messages of hope:

Ricky Jenkins, Southwest Church (Indian Wells, CA), Podcast

Dr. Derwin Gray, Transformation Church (Indian Land, SC)

Dr. Eric Mason, Epiphany Fellowship Church (Philadelphia, PA)

Thabiti Anyabwile, Anacostia River Church (Washington, DC)

Sr. Pastor Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon, Christ the King UCC (Florissant, MO)

Efrem Smith Midtown Campus, Bayside Church (Sacramento, CA)

Edrin Williams, The Sanctuary Covenant Church (Minneapolis, MN), Podcast

Dr. Dharius Daniels, Change Church (Ewing, NJ)

Dr. Charlie Dates Progressive Baptist Church (Chicago, IL)

Michael Todd, Transformation Church (Tulsa, OK)

Derwin Anderson & Dhati Lewis, Blueprint Church (Atlanta, GA)

Leslie D. Callahan, St. Paul’s Baptist Church (Philadelphia, PA)

Robert L. Scott, Jr., Quench Life Christian Fellowship (Dublin, CA), Podcast

H.B. Charles, Shiloh Church (Jacksonville, FL)

Dr. Dwayne Bond, Wellspring Church (Charlotte, NC)

Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes, III, Friendship West (Dallas, TX)

Albert Tate, Fellowship Church (Monrovia, CA), Podcast

Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Middle Church (New York, NY)

Chris Brooks, Woodside Bible Church (multiple locations in Michigan)

Robert Galinas, Colorado Community Church (Denver, CO)

Paul Sheppard, Destiny Christian Fellowship (Fremont, CA)

John K. Jenkins, Sr., First Baptist Church of Glenarden (Upper Marlboro, MD)

Richard Allen Farmer, Crossroads Presbyterian Church (Stone Mountain, GA)

Rich Villodas, New Life Church (New York, NY)*

Dr. Tony Evans, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship (Dallas, TX)

William H. Lamar, IV, Metropolitan AME Church (Washington, DC), Facebook

Hart Ramsey, Northview Christian Church (Dothan, AL)

Elbert McGowan, Jr., Redeemer Church (Jackson, MS)

Dr. Renita J. Weems, Ray of Hope Community Church (Nashville, TN), Audio

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Trinity Church (Chicago, IL)*

Leonce B. Crump, Jr. Renovation Church (Atlanta, GA)

Other Speakers/Preachers:

Dr. Shively Smith

Dennis R. Edwards

Dr. Esau McCaulley

Rickey Bolden

Rev. Michael McBride

Dante Stewart

Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil

Dr. Carl Ellis Jr.

Khristi Lauren Adams

Latasha Morrison

Andre Henry

Leah Fulton

Dr. Chanequa Walker Barnes

Micky ScottBey Jones

Natasha S. Robinson

Trilla Newbell

To follow all of these preachers, visit my Twitter thread.

If you are new to the discussion on race, start here. I also recommend these three podcasts by women of color.

*Only live streaming available

I asked on social media for recommendations for some outstanding preachers, pastors, and priests who also happen to be African American. If you are white, might I humbly suggest skipping your regular church service to join one of these churches on Sunday? Or at the very least, listen to one of the sermons an evening this week?

A Celebration of Women: Book Review of Defiant by Kelley Nikondeha

What if we read the Bible with an activated imagination? Through a narrative retelling of the Exodus story, Kelley Nikondeha emphasizes notes of the story not usually stressed as she focuses on key women in the tale. Kelley integrates liberation stories of gutsy women activists such as Mahalia Jackson, Emma Gonzalez, Ahed Tamini, Dolores Huerta, Emilie Schindler, Rosa Parks, and many other justice-seeking women.

Kelley artfully threads her own unique story as an adopted daughter born to a Mexican mother, a mother to two children by adoption, and her intercultural marriage to a man from Burundi. Kelley is a talented writer and intelligent Bible scholar, so readers who appreciate great literature will admire her expertise in storytelling. Of the many women mentioned in the book, I found Kelley’s personal story as compelling as the other women she profiles. More than anything, Defiant is first and foremost a celebration of women.

Defiant is first and foremost a celebration of women. Click To Tweet

As a former teacher myself, this book would provide excellent topics to discuss in a classroom since students could learn about various women in history who have made an impact through activism. Along with this, people of faith would benefit from reading a book using the Bible as a springboard to discuss personal responsibility as a catalyst for social change. Rather than divorcing social activism and religious faith, this book reflects the value of living out faith in practical ways in society.

While some conservative critics may consider the book to be “extra biblical,” or too heavy on creative storytelling, followers of Jesus often need a fresh look at Scripture to resuscitate familiar Bible characters to life. In the case of Defiant, I had never heard of many of the women Kelley focused on, though I’ve read Exodus many times. Growing up in patriarchal church structures, male pastors rarely preached about women. But as dissection specimens are injected with blue or pink dye, Kelley’s retelling illuminated the hidden women of Exodus, while causing the more-often celebrated men to fade into the background. As a woman used to hearing from and about men, Defiant was extremely refreshing.

Defiant is creative, smart, and liberating. Not only will you glean new knowledge of old truths as you read, you will be swept away in the story and the power that storytelling can achieve in the world.

*This post includes Amazon affiliate links.

The One Where She Gets Stranded on an Island {guest post}

Hong Kong, Andrea Stout.

By Andrea Stout | Instagram: @stoutwanderer

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a group of travelers finds themselves stranded, due to one disaster or another, on a tropical island, let’s just say somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The question now, for the rest of this movie or TV series, is how will they survive, and, ultimately, will they make it home?

Yeah, I know, I’ve seen it, too. Feels a bit tired, doesn’t it? As a writer, and a professor of writing and storytelling, I fervently preach against predictable plot points and clichéd characters. “Avoid the tropes!” I might have admonished my students, when I still had a class to go to. But now, as an American expat living (or “stranded”) in Hong Kong during this current pandemic, tropes and clichéd characters seem all but impossible to avoid.

Superficially, everyone appears to be fulfilling the role set out for them in the script. Of course, nature is the villain in this one, so that’s easy—a tried and true antagonist. If it’s not aliens (said with no judgment aimed at my alien conspiracy theorist friends) or zombies, a virus works just as well as anything: a comet, an immediate global freeze, a cataclysmic seismic something rather involving shifting tectonic plates … as long as a scientist can explain it to us laypeople in a thirty second scene with some maps and cool graphics, we don’t really care.

Next, we need some human representatives of ideological differences voiced through political infighting: “We need to get these people out of here!” “Are you crazy?! All that will do is cause panic!” “It’s too late for them! We need to seal the borders now!” “We can’t firebomb that town! Human life is too precious!” Personally, I like to hear Morgan Freeman’s voice narrating the case for humanity, but … we have who we have, and they’re all acting their parts as best they can.

Moving on, crucially, we need the protagonist, followed by a cast of all the other personality types: the anxious one, the gruff one, the funny one, the hapless one, etc. Like I said, I study stories for a living, and I see why we like this kind of tale. It’s got everything we like: drama, action, suspense, all that we fear and all that we want to believe about the human spirit. And, naturally, we are all the protagonists in our own stories, so we identify and rejoice at the happy ending. Heroes all!

Having said that, I recognize that this is not fiction. And maybe that’s what is most frustrating me: I don’t know how to write it. Or, I should say, I don’t know how to write it without falling into tropes. Everything I might write feels clichéd: responses by governments, businesses, media outlets, our varied cast of characters, the conflicted protagonist … we’ve seen it all before.

If it were fiction, I could change it, like a writer changing history to make it more like how we would have liked it to be, or at least to cut out the boring parts. Instead, we have a plot that’s painfully dragging. Sure, some parts are fairly dramatic.

Hong Kong, for example, has had quite the year. We had the whole “protest thing,” starting spring of 2019, which I won’t go into but suffice it to say drastically and fundamentally impacted our daily lives here in this “special administrative region” and lasted into January of 2020, coming to no resolution but instead being unceremoniously usurped by what was then called “the novel coronavirus.”

We had already become acclimated to school and business closures, as well as event and trip cancelations, throughout the fall (our school term ended with finals having to be hastily conducted online) and tension between Hong Kong and mainland China was already palpable, so the only difference between the virus shut-down and the protests shut-down for most of us was that instead of “watch this space for daily announcements about closures,” we now had “school will be conducted virtually for the remainder of the term.”

In the West, the effects of the virus became a bigger story later (a topic for another time), but in Hong Kong, this has been the story since the end of January. Many expats began to read the writing on the wall, so to speak, or were simply too exhausted or too out of work to continue on here and began the exodus in February and continued on into March.

Now, it’s important to remind you, reader, that this is my story and I’m the protagonist here—this means you’re meant to be on my side. I could spend time trying to convince you with likeable and reasonable arguments for my decision to remain—most of it involving the fact that I had already decided this was to be my final year in my current position and I was making arrangements to move elsewhere to start at a new institution come fall and so wanted to finish out the term in Hong Kong and leave at the end of April—but, for the sake of brevity, I’ll just describe my decision this way: as my colleagues and friends began their similarly understandable and well-reasoned escapes, I did what seemed fitting for my character.

My role, which I accept, is to stay calm. I get things done, take things in stride, respond with logic, action, and, at times, humor … it’s the role I was born to play (putting aside conversations of nature vs. nurture). So, when my April 27th flight was canceled on April 2nd, I absolutely did not panic. Instead, I cried. I cried because, like all of us, I’m tired. I’m tired of cancelations, unrealized visits by friends and family, refunded play and festival tickets, month after month of online work/church/socializing/life, which feels like only partial living, and I’m tired of not knowing the ending and not even knowing when we will get the ending. It feels like being part of a TV series whose writers have abandoned the project midway through or have been told to put the writing on hold, and now it’s just dragging on with filler subplots, no end in sight.

I’m tired of not knowing the ending and not even knowing when we will get the ending. -Andrea Stout Click To Tweet

A brief aside here: In storytelling, there’s a common plot device called deus ex machina. It’s a Latin term, used in Greek theatre, meaning “god from the machine.” The gist of it is that, when characters find themselves in an unsolvable situation, they can be rescued suddenly by some outside force, like the hand of God reaching in, via ancient Greek set design and machinery, and hoisting them out. Commonly referred to examples now would be The Lord of the Rings eagles soaring in inexplicably to save the day or the Jurassic Park T-Rex crashing in from nowhere to chomp the other dinosaur that was imminently threatening our protagonists.

The idea is that help can always come, inexplicably or supernaturally, from above. It’s actually a nice idea, but nowadays, deus ex machina is considered by many in the industry to be “lazy writing.” The protagonist should save herself, be proactive and resourceful. Think Sigourney Weaver’s character, Ripley, in Aliens: yes, a machine is used defeat the seemingly undefeatable alien, but it’s not God in the machine—it’s Ripley. She knows how to control it, and she is the agent of her own victory.

Returning to our story, I will once again say that I’d be much more comfortable if this were fiction. I could give my protagonist an ability to fly planes or access to high-tech gadgetry, friends in the Pentagon (or Stark Tower), a magic lasso, unlimited resources, or, at least, stellar martial arts or warrior moves à la Catwoman or Wonder Woman. But as it is, this being nonfiction, I’m not sure what proactive measures I can write in for my character.

Waiting feels decidedly non-heroic, and waiting for “the hand of God” to swoop in and rescue me, despite my own personal faith that this is possible, still feels a bit like lazy writing on my part. But I guess that’s where I have to leave it. As far as cliffhangers go, this isn’t much of one—the protagonist is left safe on an island, packing boxes, reading, going for hikes, and checking emails for updates on flight statuses.

Will she get off the island come May, or will it be June? Only Deus knows. And hey, maybe I’m not the protagonist, after all. Maybe I’m the hapless one—the hapless writer, hanging out in the writers’ room, waiting for the go-ahead to write the ending. Until then, I’ll just be here, hoping the series doesn’t get canceled and reconsidering my thoughts on heroes and machines, eagles and aliens.

About Andrea:

Andrea Stout is a teacher, writer, and storyteller. She currently lives and works in Hong Kong. Follow her on Instagram.

Photos by Andrea Stout, used by permission.

Greetings from Home Lockdown in India

This is adapted from an email from my friend Jessica Kumar who lives in India with her family.

By Jessica Kumar | Twitter: @JessicaKumar_

It’s hard to believe a little over a week ago we were writing from a hotel room in Delhi, trying to get a flight back to our city. Through a lot of drama, stress, and uncertainty we made it back home on the 23rd just in time to get groceries and basic supplies.

On March 24, the Prime Minister of India announced a lockdown for the next 21 days, until April 15. There was only a four hour advance notice given and we are fairly sure it will be extended past April 14. All flights, road transportation, busses and trains are stopped. Everything is closed except for food stalls, hospitals, certain banks, and pharmacies. We are able to walk to nearby shops to get groceries and basic supplies.

We see many friends in the US who are able to go out for walks and bike rides as long as you stay away from people. That’s not the case here. The prime minister used words referring to the religious concept of Laxman Rekha–“An uncrossable line has been drawn across the home of your door.” Although people are supposed to be allowed to go out for groceries and medicine, police are roaming the streets and have been known to beat people who seem to be out for the wrong reasons. Law and order here is something of a fuzzy concept, and people are being driven by fear to stay home.

Since Italian tourists are the ones who brought COVID19 into India, there is paranoia about foreigners. I won’t be going out much, if at all, in the near future, since my presence makes people more uncomfortable and fearful.

The poor and marginalized will be the most deeply affected by this lockdown as about 300 million of them survive on daily wages (no salary.) There is also currently a huge migration of people, mainly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who are WALKING from Delhi since their jobs have basically vanished overnight and there is no transportation available. That’s a 620 mile journey! This time is certainly unprecedented in history.

And yet people seem to remain pretty calm here. We are thankful we still have access to groceries and so far we haven’t had any shortages of the essential items. People in India are used to things not going according to plan. School being shut for ten days at a time without notice is something we are used to. Not getting back what were supposed to be “refundable” deposits is something that happens here all the time. Security is relative. Inconvenience is a way of life.

Like many in other countries are asking, we’re also wondering things like “Who will take the garbage out today?” As many of you have heard us describe on our podcast, India is a “make it from scratch” culture. At least in our city, we don’t have dishwashers, canned food, or clothes driers. We usually have house help that assists us with the labor required to keep a basic house running, but since no one is allowed to leave home, we are adjusting to a new way of life which requires several hours a day of physical labor. Most of our days are found in food preparation, cooking, cleaning and making sure our house remains in good order, free of pests and a safe place to shelter for the foreseeable future.

The kids enjoy a combination of helping with housework, coloring, playing on our balcony and bicycling in the house. We are trying to do some educational activities an hour or so a day. Much like everyone else on the planet, our productivity is severely hampered and we are coming to grips with that as the days pass.

Now is not a time for productivity. It is a time for survival.

Now is not a time for productivity. It is a time for survival. @JessicaKumar_ Click To Tweet

***

About Jessica:

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_8365-150x150.jpg

A global nomad from birth, Jessica Kumar currently lives in India where she and her family are involved in economic development work and small business. She and her husband run a podcast, “Invisible India,” where they talk about scrappy travel, interview interesting people and explore the interactions between East and West through the lens of a cross cultural, interracial couple. Find Invisible India on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher as well as on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. She also writes articles related to cross cultural life at www.globalnomadism.com. Follow Jessica on Twitter @JessicaKumar_ (note the underscore.)

Social Distancing: Week 1 versus Week 3

Day 7 (March 20)

I’m sure many people will write about this time, but they will be peering out of their own windows at their own trees or neighbor’s houses. They’ll be hiding in their own corners of messy bedrooms, writing out of stolen silence while their partners are watching the children or joining a virtual meeting in the basement. Others will have a similar tale to mine, but we will each have our own particular stories to tell.

My kids often ask my husband and me to tell them stories at the dinner table. Yesterday I agreed and started, “Once upon a time the entire world shut down and everyone had to stay inside for weeks …” I told my three kids they’re living the story they’ll tell their children one day.

It’s strange how much can change in a matter of days. How life can reorient and upend your equilibrium like being toppled by a wave and spinning underwater. Which way is up? There is no “normal.” No one feels they have the right to complain because someone somewhere has lost a job, a business, a child, or her own life. But we’ve all lost something.

Nine days ago I was speaking to a group of 30 women in a church auditorium about practicing hospitality and cultivating community through face-to-face contact. That seems unfathomable now. I challenged them to step away from their digital lives to engage in their real-life relationships. Today, we are self-isolating and I haven’t been within three feet of anyone other than my family members and housemate for more than a week. Socializing in person is potentially lethal, while isolation leads to life. Which way is up?

Nine days ago I wouldn’t have imagined I’d be meeting with my neighbors on a video call to find out if we all have enough toilet paper and rice.

It only took a week to remind us we belong to one another, that we can’t exist without each other, that we actually needed each other all along and were often too busy to notice.

In a strange reversal of everything we once knew, we are learning to see neighbors, notice beauty, and support even strangers simply because they share our zip code. It turns out love molds itself to the most dire of circumstances. Love adapts and shape-shifts to meet our deepest needs.

But I feel small and powerless. Yesterday I re-read the end of Job where God reminds Job that he is dust and that it’s God who commands the sun to rise and the storms to thunder. Like standing by the edge of the ocean or on the rim of an inactive volcano, a helicopter buzzing like a tiny bee in a huge hive of the volcano’s crater, a world-wide pandemic reminds us how small and insignificant we really are. A pandemic reminds us how quickly our goals, plans, and hard work turn to ash.

Isolated at home, we are living in kairos time. The children astound me with their creativity as they make costumes from the recycling bin, re-create the beach indoors, or act out elaborate stories. We watch movies together and I rub their soft, chubby arms as they curl up in my lap. They must sense my unease, because they are listening more willingly and offering more hugs than usual. Chronos has lost its grip on us; every day is flooded with kairos moments.

Some scholars use the book of Esther as an example of kairos time. The queen—an Israelite in hiding—is perfectly situated to save her people when the king agrees to exterminate them. Only she can save them—if she dares. She was placed in the palace at that particular time in history “for such a time as this.”

Earlier this year, instead of seeking “my calling,” I started seeking God. Each day that I remembered, I prayed: “God, what are you calling me to do today?” And when I remember to pray that prayer, a word or phrase usually comes to mind: “Be with your family.” “Write.” “Rest.” God doesn’t often invite us to big things. Usually, our daily call seems miniscule and insignificant. Right now we are called to embrace small moments. Moments like snuggles and funny questions (last night my five year old daughter asked before bed, “Mommy, why is quick sand so quick?”), small gifts like toilet paper, coffee, and fresh produce, and even the inconveniences that challenge us to adapt, grow, and learn new things.

10 Days Later (March 30)

The worldwide death toll is now over 35,000.

Today begins our third week of isolation. Last night the president issued a stay-at-home order for the entire country until April 30th. My optimism is wavering.

Last week my husband complained that we’re busier now than before all this began. A novel way of interacting a couple weeks ago, many of us now have Zoom Call Fatigue. But we’re desperate for social interaction—even if it means laughing together from boxes on a screen and talking about what we’ll do first after this is all over.

Now, the only way to stay hopeful is to mentally slide a frame over Today and focus on one day at a time instead of an entire month (or months) of boxes in a calendar. I’ve been keeping a running mental tally of simple gifts: our backyard, hints of spring peeking out from the dead garden soil, the mysteries and hopes of Easter shrouded in clouds of fear and uncertainty. I scratch my kids’ backs as I pray for them at night, listing off our many gifts in our bedtime prayers: “God thank you for health, our home, our family, food, meeting our basic needs, spring coming, God’s love and presence with us at all times … “

A few nights ago I dreamed of hugging someone other than my family member. Seconds later, I panicked because I had touched someone. On a hike at a local open space this past weekend, I bent down to pick up a small, unopened package of fishing lures someone had dropped. “You should wipe that off before you touch it!” my seven year old son said. Before my kids’ show on Amazon Prime, the usual advertisement has been replaced by the Baby Shark song singing to kids about washing their hands.

How is this time altering our brain chemistry and our natural ways of moving in the world? And how permanent will the changes be? Will my children carry some latent fear of physical touch or proximity to people into their adulthood? As a mother, I am afraid for them.

We are spending as much time outdoors as possible. Nature is nurturing and distracting us. Homeschool looks more like Natureschool or Backyardschool. Social distancing is forcing my kids to play together. In their fantasies, my children enter a state of oblivion to the deadly Covid Monster. Last week they pretended four huge boulders at the top of the rust-colored hogbacks at a state park were the toes of a giant sleeping upside down (which was very concerning for my three year old, who kept asking me if the giant was real.) Watching children play is therapeutic for me. Perhaps it’s saving them, too.

Psalm 46 has been a constant comfort. The repetition of God being “with us” reminds us we’re not alone. Western society is always in need of the nudge to “be still and know that he is God.” Americans hate silence and being static. We’re afraid of what we’ll hear in the stillness when we can no longer numb with movement and noise. But it’s through stillness that we begin to know God. I need courage to push through the discomfort, awkwardness and boredom of isolation to enter into a greater awareness of God.

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