Dear Pillar community, Even during Lent, I confess my mind is on sports. I was raised in a sports-loving family, so my soul has been shaped by long loyalties and entrenched memories. Chief among them are Hope-Calvin classics and fall college game days at the Big House. More recently in graduate school, I witnessed the ritual that is Duke basketball … Read More

When I was younger, I remember hearing other people’s testimonies and thinking “how do I get a testimony like that?” I admired them, but, if I was honest, I didn’t want to go through what it would take for my story to look like theirs. It seemed that God only worked in hard places- through mistakes made, radical discipleship or … Read More

A Cruciform Life Dear Pillar, One Good Friday a church I once pastored decided to worship using a liturgy modeled after the stations of the cross. Two people dressed in black carried a cross from one position in the sanctuary to the next while various members of the congregation read gospel passages describing key moments in Jesus’ journey to the … Read More

A year and a half ago my dad was diagnosed with stage four melanoma. The news seemed unreal and almost like a bad dream that I wanted to wake up from. I really didn’t know what to think. Doubts, uncertainty, and fear were constantly at the forefront of my thoughts. My dad and I have had a very close relationship, … Read More

Dear Pillar, Listen to this, from Matthew’s gospel: Matthew 19:13-15 Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as … Read More

From a place of darkest waters and deepest pain, I heard these lyrics from the song “Scars”*. “I am grateful for the scars cause without them I would not know your heart.”* Can I really say I am thankful for the scars? The scars from June 6, 2021, the day I turned off the ventilator and walked my beloved husband, … Read More

Dear Pillar, Read this short verse from Matthew: “When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating…” The context of Matthew 26 verse 20 is the Passover meal, what became the inaugural communion supper. Jesus just moments from the Judas’ betrayal and only a few hours from Peter’s denial. Judas and Peter were … Read More