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Essays by 2021-22 Emerging Writers
Salvation Through Covenant
January 9, 2023
Through the practice of covenant, Ellen Spero's Unitarian Universalist church form a community in a building first occupied by Puritans, where almost everything has changed but a commitment to walking together in God's love and grace.Read more »What God Has Ordained
January 5, 2023
Discerning God's call to pastoring or other ministry is an ongoing process, not a one-time thing. It includes mentors but also attention to one's heart's desire.Read more »Recognizing Holy Moments
January 2, 2023
Ignatian spirituality teaches that in order to see God’s presence in the world, we must be disposed to the world that we live in—the world in front of us.Read more »Paw Washing
December 19, 2022
To stoop and wash the feet of another is an astounding act of love. To have your feet washed is a profound moment of vulnerability. Marriage, in a nutshell. Dog ownership too, it turns out.Read more »Psalm 17: A Prayer for Asian Americans
December 12, 2022
"I had seen blatantly hateful acts committed against Asian Americans all my life, but never so many, so fast, and so creative with their hatred."Read more »The Foolish Hope of a Good Power
July 11, 2022
"Good Power" is forged from vulnerability and safe spaces, vulnerability met with love and support, and good power raises up leaders who do the same.Read more »On the sacred space of bathrooms for queer and trans folks
June 23, 2022
All anyone really wants in a bathroom is some privacy. But Kai Ngu also found bathrooms a good place to think, and shares some thoughts here.Read more »A Bitter Pill
June 20, 2022
Natarsha Sanders recounts her battle to accept a difficult diagnosis, and to get the necessary treatment. Love and medicine get her there.Read more »Postcolonial Faith: Grappling with the Legacy of Missionaries in my Family
April 4, 2022
Kai (Sarah) Ngu considers the legacy of their family's relationship with an American missionary and how Christianity contributes to their parents' ongoing feelings of racial inferiority.Read more »When Overachieving No Longer Satisfies
March 24, 2022
To exchange the “ideal overachiever” title assigned to me for the “sacred human” title chosen by the God who created me, something needed to change.Read more »
Essays by 2020-21 Emerging Writers
A Wound and a Gift: Forgiveness and Restoration in Prison
July 26, 2021
For two men, one wrongly convicted and the other guilty of first degree murder, conversion to Christianity provides a way forward to forgiveness and restoration.Read more »The Community’s Prayers Are My Prayers: A Life of Faith in Prison
July 22, 2021
For Christians incarcerated for first degree murder in Illinois, their faith can be a source of reconciliation and hope.Read more »When Monsters Are Real
July 1, 2021
For Black filmmakers, the horror genre illuminates the evil and terror often underlying mundane encounters in a racist society.Read more »Taking Off the Crown of Creation
June 28, 2021
What happens when we adjust our theology to see humans as part of creation rather than at the top of it?Read more »Husband, Father, and Living a “Religious Life”?
June 24, 2021
When I one day meet God face-to-face, will I be able to look him in the eye and say, “I heard your call. I heeded you”?Read more »
