That’s when the name-badge on the chaplain’s neatly pressed shirt triggered a flashback to a conversation I’d shared with another chaplain some
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The Doxology we sing has the phrase “Praise God above ye heavenly host.” I didn’t know until recently that “host,” also used in phrases like “Lord of Hosts,” means “army.” Are we meant to fight for God, or fear God’s
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In the foothills of East Tennessee, not far from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, lies the small town of Clinton. You may have heard of it before. It is the home of the Clinton 12, a group of twelve Black students, who in 1956, bravely integrated the local high school
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Regardless of our colliding political beliefs, most Americans would agree this country is experiencing a crisis of identity. Political and social structures once considered dependable, have lost our trust. Ideals about democracy are more fluid than ever. Nothing is as we once thought it would be. Our sense of security,
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“Everywhere I turned, I heard the same words: ‘You have to forgive.’” wrote trauma survivor and author Nancy Richards. “They came from my family, my counselors, and the religious community alike. I saw myself as a complete and utter failure. As though my self-esteem wasn’t low enough from years of
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The Doxology we sing has the phrase “Praise God above ye heavenly host.” I didn’t know until recently that “host,” also used in phrases like “Lord of Hosts,” means “army.” Are we meant to fight for God, or fear God’s attacks? Are we meant to think in holiness in terms
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That’s when the name-badge on the chaplain’s neatly pressed shirt triggered a flashback to a conversation I’d shared with another chaplain some 20 years before. You see, this wasn’t my first stent in a psychiatric hospital, so much as a replay of a residential eating disorder program I'd undertaken my
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