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Reading for 2018

A post shared by Erica Schemper (@eschemper) on Jan 4, 2018 at 3:53pm PST My reading habits have taken a dive in the last few years. I’ve been parenting a baby or a toddler continually since 2006, when Zora was born, and I tend to blame my brain’s decreased ability to focus long enough to [...]

Where Jesus would put the kids in worship

Churches with a play space in the worship space: so good. (And a hill I’m willing to die on in future pastoral leadership!) A post shared by Erica Schemper (@eschemper) on Jul 16, 2017 at 10:35am PDT Last weekend, I posted a picture on instagram of my husband with our two youngest children, playing in [...]

Family History

About a decade ago, I was visiting California for a conference, and heard a speaker there talk about his family history of being incarcerated during WWII because they were Japanese American. As I sat there and listened to the story, it hit me: my family was there for this piece of American history. My paternal [...]

Not So Silent: Welcoming Children to Christmas Eve

Dearest church people, Get ready. In two days it’ll be Christmas Eve, your congregation will welcome people in for one of the biggest nights of the year. Get ready: you may be blessed with an overrun of visitors, and I hope some of those visitors will be children and their parents. In the spirit of [...]

Quitting My Fitbit

Suburban California's version of a runner's aid station: neighborhood plum trees. A photo posted by Erica Schemper (@eschemper) on May 30, 2016 at 11:04am PDT I bought a fitbit a little over a year ago with the goal of getting back to running. Baby number three really did in my exercise routine: three kids to [...]

Not-George

We had a great little family road trip last week. We skipped church in order to drop Zora off for her first full week of overnight church camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I figure church skipping is defensible if it’s in the service of getting your kid to go to church camp. Who is [...]

When I Knew I Was Racist (And How I Know I Probably Still Am)

I’ve been totally distracted by the news about the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. We talked about it this morning at bootcamp class in my affluent, mostly white suburb. The fact that people there are angry is, I think, a small glimmer of hope. Erik and I lamented it before he left for [...]

I Wonder What It’s Like to Be Her

Rockin' the vote with my entourage. A photo posted by Erica Schemper (@eschemper) on Jun 7, 2016 at 9:28am PDT Yesterday morning, I voted in the California Democratic primary. I voted for Hillary. And if you still want to read rather than throw rotten tomatoes at me, please do. This is less about politics than [...]

Good Friday: March 25

It also happened in1608 and again today: Good Friday falls on the normal date of the Feast of the Annunciation. John Donne on that. A photo posted by Erica Schemper (@eschemper) on Mar 25, 2016 at 7:47am PDT Tamely, frail body, abstain today; today My soul eats twice, Christ hither and away. She sees Him [...]

The Stay At Home Reverend: A Collect for Sibling Rivalry

They are all still alive. Nearly to our first stop. A photo posted by Erica Schemper (@eschemper) on Jun 16, 2015 at 5:06pm PDT Oh Jesus, Leader and Wrangler of the Disciples, you know what it is to put up with bickering about silly things, like who sits where, and who eats what, and gets [...]

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