Guiding each unit to your Sunday school classrooms has been a great privilege. I am thankful to have been part of this community that is so committed to helping people see the truth of God’s word in new, personal ways.
Uniform 04.19.2015: Recognizing Our Lies
April 12, 2015 by
In 1 John 3, John encourages us to remember that we show our love through our actions. Our faith requires us to act in love, he says. In chapter 4, John raises the stakes.
Uniform 04.05.2015: Of Resurrection and Moon Landings
March 29, 2015 by
On this Sunday, a high holy day for Christians around the world, many Americans will observe a holy moment in pop culture: the premiere of the final season of Mad Men.
Uniform 03.22.2015: Sent to Act
March 15, 2015 by
In the days leading up to World War II, a number of German theologians fled Germany. They could not stomach the way the church was changing under Nazi rule, and they knew that their dissenting ideas were dangerous.
Uniform 03.08.2015: Being an Advocate
March 1, 2015 by
We talk about people being advocates for healthcare reform, advocates for diversity, advocates for the rights of immigrants, advocates for equal pay, and the list goes on.
Uniform 02.22.2015: Prepared Faith
February 15, 2015 by
As a parent of two infants and a preschooler, leaving the house is a tremendous undertaking. After establishing that all three children are rested, fed, and dressed, I have to make sure that our van is stocked with all the equipment we will need for a successful outing.
Uniform 02.08.2015: A Need for Fresh Eyes
February 1, 2015 by
In every community, there are stories that have been told so many times that people develop a shorthand code for telling them. For my family, the mention of “sunny-side-up eggs” evokes a cautionary tale against overeating before church.
Uniform 01.25.2015: Effective Prayer
January 18, 2015 by
People love stories of miraculous healings. When I log on to social media, I am often greeted with links to stories about babies who are diagnosed with serious illnesses in the womb but are born perfectly healthy.
Uniform 01.11.2015: A Grandmother’s Voice
January 4, 2015 by
As I read these words of Jesus this week, I am grieving the loss of my grandmother, who died just after Christmas. My mind is running a constant feed of the time my family and I spent saying goodbye.
Uniform 12.28.2014: Faith for the Unexpected
December 21, 2014 by
One of my favorite movies to watch at Christmas is The Bishop’s Wife. In it, a frazzled bishop, played by David Niven, prays for God’s guidance as he struggles to raise funds for a new cathedral and maintain a healthy relationship with his wife (Loretta Young).
Uniform 12.14.2014: Communal Noise
December 7, 2014 by
Advent is perhaps the most audibly rich time on the Christian calendar. Bells ringing, fires crackling, people singing—the sounds of the season prepare us for Christmas in a way that sights alone cannot.
Uniform 11.30.2014: Gratitude and Hope
November 23, 2014 by
This week marks the start of a new season on the church calendar. It is Advent, the time when Christians wait with hopeful expectation for the coming of Christ. As it so often does, this first Sunday of Advent—when we light the candle of hope on our wreaths—falls just a few days after Thanksgiving.
Uniform 11.02.2014: If You Build It, God Will Come
October 26, 2014 by
In the iconic 1989 film, Field of Dreams, Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella is moved by a mysterious voice to plow under most of his cornfield and build a baseball field. “If you build it, he will come,” the voice whispers.
Uniform: Seeing through Grieving Eyes
October 12, 2014 by
When my 3-year-old is upset about something, he suddenly becomes upset about everything else, too. After suffering from an injury or disappointment, he begins to see all the other things that are out of place in his world.
Uniform 10.05.2014: And Never Stops at All
September 28, 2014 by
Habakkuk displays an ability to do something that I struggle with, especially in times of crisis or grief: he acknowledges and laments God’s silence while trusting that God will speak again. When I have experienced God’s absence from my life, the idea that God was still there somehow has not provided me with any sort of comfort.
Uniform 09.21.2014: Acting with Hope
September 14, 2014 by
When this week’s text begins, things look pretty bleak for Jeremiah and the people of Judah. Jeremiah finds himself imprisoned by King Zedekiah, who is distressed by Jeremiah’s message of coming destruction.
Uniform 09.07.2014: Rebuilding
August 31, 2014 by
When my great-great grandparents settled in Middle Tennessee, they found a farm in the small community of Mona and built a house for their family. Robert and Ella Barrett spent many happy years in that farmhouse with their fourteen children.
Uniform 08.24.2014: Afflictions, Hardships, and Calamities
August 17, 2014 by
This has been a difficult few weeks in the news. This week, we might read Paul’s words to the Corinthians who face “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” (6:4-5) more as a summary of contemporary news than as a list of Christian trials.
Uniform 08.10.2014: Moving Forward Through Forgiveness
August 3, 2014 by
When Paul writes 2 Corinthians, both he and the congregation in Corinth are recovering from a “painful visit” (2:1). After spending a lot of time in Corinth, Paul had returned, hoping to reconnect with friends and continue guiding the young church. But he had been greeted with distrust and accusations of insincerity.
Uniform 07.27.2014: Feeling Left Out
July 20, 2014 by
Because I don’t belong to a tradition that incorporates the speaking of tongues into worship or private devotion, it’s tempting for me to skip over Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14. “That doesn’t apply to me,” I want to say.
Uniform 07.13.2014: Knowing God through Love
July 6, 2014 by
I come from a family that highly values education. Both of my parents are teachers, as were both of my maternal grandparents. Advanced degrees are scattered throughout the family. For my siblings and me, going to college was never a choice to make but an expectation to fulfill.
Uniform 06.29.2014: Finding Unity in a Divided World
June 22, 2014 by
We live in a world that urges us to take sides. Based on these labels, and often little else, we decide whether or not we should associate with people. We let the sides we take in public debates define who we are.
Uniform 06.15.2014: Being Holy
June 8, 2014 by
Old Testament writers are often concerned with holiness. With an extensive collection of laws about how to remain holy, or set apart, God’s people had an innate knowledge of what threatened their holiness.
Uniform 06.01.2014: All Deliberate Speed
May 23, 2014 by
Having grown up in Georgia, I have heard many stories about when my state’s public schools finally integrated. In many cases, the court’s order did not take hold until the mid-70s, twenty years after its decree that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Uniform 05.18.2014: Be Careful What You Do
May 11, 2014 by
In the process of parenting our son, my husband and I often discuss the various methods of discipline that were used in our families growing up. For both of our households, there was always a penalty for using inappropriate language. In my house, my mother would squirt Worcestershire sauce on our tongues.
Uniform 05.04.2014: Testing God
April 27, 2014 by
In this Easter season, the last person on our minds is Santa Claus. But as I read this week’s texts and their mandates not to put “God to the test” (Deut 6:16; Mt 4:7), I am reminded of the way children bargain with Santa when they begin to suspect that he is not real.
Uniform 04.20.2014: Thoughts on Resurrection
April 13, 2014 by
Every Easter, we read the story of the empty tomb. And every year, I find myself wondering how I would have felt if I had been there that day. What would I have focused on as I walked to the tomb to tend to Jesus’ body? How would I have responded to Jesus’ absence? Would I have been outraged? Afraid?
Uniform 04.06.2014: Caring for Sacred Space
March 30, 2014 by
Like many people, I can get pretty sentimental about buildings. When an old, unused gym on my college campus was torn down to make way for green space, I was saddened that people would no longer get to see the tiny gym where the Mercer Bears played basketball for many years.
Uniform 03.23.2014: One of the Flock
March 16, 2014 by
I must confess that the book of Revelation intimidates me. I can read about the flood in Genesis, Egypt’s ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus, the dry bones in Ezekiel, and the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels without feeling overwhelmed by God’s mysterious power.
Uniform 03.09.2014: Family History
March 2, 2014 by
My grandfather is a genealogy junky. He has spent countless hours sifting through birth, marriage, and death records in the public library of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Through his research, he traced our family tree back some fifteen generations, when the Milligans were still in England.
Uniform 02.23.2014: Talking with Toddlers
February 16, 2014 by
As the mother of a two-year-old, I spend a lot of time thinking about language. I delight in my son’s ever-expanding vocabulary, and I giggle at his sweet mispronunciations and the fascinating way he strings words together into sentences. But as much fun as it can be to help my son understand our complicated language, teaching him the power of words is a serious business.
Uniform 2.09.2014: Loving Everyone in Snowstorms and Beyond
February 2, 2014 by
This week, the Southeast experienced a rare winter storm that wreaked havoc on our routines. A mass exodus from schools and businesses when snow started to fall on untreated roads created dangerous and impassable conditions. Commutes of a few miles that would normally take fifteen to twenty minutes stretched into hours and even into the next day.
Uniform 01.26.2014: A War on Wealth
January 19, 2014 by
This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson declaring a “war on poverty.” Through programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start, the Johnson administration demonstrated its commitment to easing the economic inequality in our country.
Uniform 01.12.2014: Pope Francis and the Beatitudes
January 2, 2014 by
Since his election and installation in March, Pope Francis has continually shocked the world with his concern for the poor. He has spoken out against economic inequality, and he has paid special attention to the least fortunate in society. He invited homeless men to the Vatican on his birthday. And rumors have cropped up that the Pope leaves the Vatican at night, wearing street clothes, to minister to the poor.
Uniform 01.05.2014: Peace on the Sabbath
January 1, 2014 by
After a week of ministering alongside Jesus, the Sabbath offers the disciples some distance from the concerns of their work. As they travel together, they are able to enjoy one another’s company in a way that is not possible while they are in the thick of supporting Jesus’ teaching and healing.