By Peter Wickersham I fully deserved my shame. Like a filthy undershirt, I wore it next to my skin. And as tightly as it clung to me, I clung to it too. Shame was proof, if only to me, that I wasn’t a monster. If I was ashamed, it meant that I regretted what I […]
By Russ Howard Sitting on the front row while the worship team led a reflective song, I readied myself to preach. As a ritual, I would imagine a scene from Isaiah’s vision of Heaven. Isaiah saw wonders like the Lord himself sitting on his throne, the train of his robe somehow filling the entirety of […]
By Karen Wingate One look. One word. That’s all it takes to know someone else knows. One nanosecond for shame to envelop your soul like a smothering blanket. I felt that way. I was in a rush and not paying attention. Hoping to catch the next city bus in less than 10 minutes, I steered […]
By Daniel Darling “Good Friday is always so somber. So we are going to have a celebration service tonight,” the minister said as he introduced a service with mostly upbeat worship choruses. I cringed my way through it, not because I didn’t love the music that rightly celebrates Jesus’ victory over sin and death, but […]
By Jane Lebak On February 28, 2000, we had an ultrasound to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Instead we learned our baby would die. The doctor faced me and my husband across the exam room with an air of irritation. I was 23 weeks pregnant. She explained as though […]
