The Emerging Writers Mentorship Program gives participants the opportunity to work intensively with an experienced writing mentor, receiving support to reach individual writing goals while publishing regularly at Bearings Online. Learn more »
Essays by 2021-22 Emerging Writers
Developing Patience for the Slow Work of Justice
October 7, 2021
"Making sense of a spirituality and church culture that causes harm is complicated and layered, opening past wounds and inflicting new ones if not done with great care."Read more »The Grief of Miscarriage Is Enough
September 30, 2021
I am stupefied now as I remember that I apologized for having a miscarriage. There is nothing I could have done to prevent them from happening. I had done nothing wrong. So, why did I apologize?Read more »The Problem with Angels: Confronting Racism in Hospice Care
September 20, 2021
Zeena Regis tells the story of how racism complicates her experience as a hospice chaplain, and contemplates how to challenge that racism like one of the fearsome, truth-telling angels of Scripture.Read more »
Essays by 2020-21 Emerging Writers
What Dance in Church Could Do for Women
December 17, 2020
"My skill as a dancer began to fuse with my faith ... until the administration told us it was distracting and we needed to go behind the stage curtain."Read more »How to Pray When You Can’t Hear Yourself Think
December 14, 2020
Perseverance. Courage. Openness. Grace. ... Arianne Lehn prays from and into the noisy spaces where it can be hard to hear the still small whispers that need most to be heard.Read more »Faith Formed at the Margins
December 3, 2020
From the very beginning, Black Christianity developed as a revolutionary movement to liberate the mind, body, and soul.Read more »The Practice of Memento Mori (Remember You Must Die)
November 23, 2020
Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, a contemporary Sister of the Congregation of St. Paul, offers a 5-step practice for memento mori that can be deeply meaningful to modern seekers.Read more »Running the Race
October 8, 2020
As we "run the race" to win, as Paul encouraged the Corinthians, what "deliberate practice" will help shape us as Christian disciples?Read more »
