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In the image of God
by Maggie Taylor If you were to attend Sunday service at Holly Grove Lutheran Church in Lexington, North Carolina, you might notice that Pastor Anna E. Carter rarely leads worship alone. As she sets the table, serves communion, and processes down the aisle, there is a...
Repentance opens the door
I’d make a terrible career criminal. I have major qualms about taking more than one sample cup of salsa at Costco. I always follow up if I’ve been under-charged for something, and never fail to make good on the transaction. I still burn with shame as I recall my...
Seeing Christ in others
“I do not eat cats and dogs,” I told my class after the presidential debate last September. A couple of students giggled. The rest of them remained silent. They knew I wasn’t joking. While I wasn’t born in Haiti, I can identify with other American immigrants who face...
Faith in economics
by Jennifer Hockenbery What is the rule of your household? How do you manage your home? How do you make sure that everyone gets what they need and sometimes what they want? Who feeds the dog or cleans up after the cat? Who does the grocery shopping, and who pays for...
Bridging the gaps
Ivannav Davila Garcia knows brokenness and where the cracks are. Ivannav, 23, immigrated to the United States from Venezuela in 2016, when she was 14. She traveled with her mother and father, who sought asylum after her mother’s public advocacy and anti-corruption...
Chalk blessings
For several years, our suburban Philadelphia ELCA congregation had a practice of setting out a big basket in our narthex with a different special item that people could take with them after worship. Back then, I was in charge of coming up with the items, alongside my...
Seen. Heard. Welcomed.
Do you ever go to church hoping you have enough snacks and “stuff” to keep your child quiet and occupied throughout the worship service? Many of us are familiar with the stigmatizing saying that children “should be seen and not heard,” in places that often include...
Building Advent traditions
Every Advent, mom would drag the yule log out of storage and place it on the kitchen table. She’d made the dusty birch centerpiece herself, complete with greenery and holes to anchor the Advent candles. Although I can no longer remember if we lit one or all the...
Redeeming grace
Coupons, rainchecks and rebates were my dad’s way of saving money on groceries and other household items. Because of this, even as a young child I understood what “redeeming” meant. Dad redeemed coupons a little like he played cards. He knew just what coupon to play,...
Journey with us through Advent
Read Gather's 2024 Advent devotional, "In God's Garden." View the devotional video supplement. Read “A sacred season,” an article from November/December 2024 issue of Gather that features 23 Advent disciplines. Download Advent resources from Women of the...