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Baby’s first day of soccer camp. Yes. This moment has come much later for this one than is normal. A photo posted by Erica Schemper (@eschemper) on Jul 27, 2015 at 2:22pm PDT Here’s Zora, on her way to her first soccer camp. She’s 8. I saw kids there who were 4 who clearly have [...]
Following the events in Ferguson, MO, breaks my heart. Read that sentence carefully. The events in Ferguson, of course, break my heart. Eighteen year olds should not be shot by the police, ever. It doesn’t matter what they did, or what they might have done. We shouldn’t live in a time and place where that [...]
With my apologies to the Celtic Christian tradition, a prayer of blessing for all of us who have children who are adept at escaping while we are busy in other parts of the house… May the road rise up to stop you, May my neighbors always have my back, May the sun shine warm on [...]
A few years back, I had this wonderful colleague, Bart (truly the best of the best among colleagues, which is saying a lot because I’ve been blessed beyond measure in the ministry-colleague department). Bart was the other full time associate pastor at my church. He and I had this little in-joke. Associate pastors in larger [...]
On this particular Easter, in a year when you’ve been hearing from the Good News from the Gospel of Luke, here’s a way you might might help bring good news. Luke, as Maren Tirabissi reminds us, was a Syrian doctor. Earlier this year, she wrote: Go ahead and say it out loud, all this lectionary [...]
A few links that are about the fact that nobody’s perfect. While folding laundry last week, I made my way through the PBS series Makers: Women Who Make America. You should watch it. Even if you are among the many women (and, for that matter, men) who would rather not use the term “feminist” as [...]
I’ve been following the papal election with interest because I have more in common with Catholics than I don’t. In other words, Protestants and Catholics disagree with each other on a relatively small percentage of doctrinal points. It’s just that this small percentage makes the most noise. So I’m praying for them and their process. [...]
Let’s do this sometime midweek, every week, OK, folks? A few things I’ve found interesting, this week, many of them more or less related to family. My family had one of our best family dates ever this past weekend. Not everything went as planned, but we had a wonderful time rambling around Golden Gate Park [...]
A not-really-so-long time ago, I was trying to figure out what my next ministry step would be. I had spent two years teaching religion at a school in one of Chicago’s not so affluent neighborhoods, and I was finishing up a year working at a big (affluent) urban church. I was considering taking a position [...]
A few years ago, I invited Bob and Laura Keeley to my church to speak to parents about their book, Helping Our Children Grow in Faith. (What? You’ve not read this book? Get a copy and read it!) That night, they mentioned the word “mishpaha.” It’s Hebrew for “family.” Kind of. Because it doesn’t mean the [...]