With over 10 years of experience leading small groups, there are a few things I can tell you about your "randomly assigned" small faith group without even showing up. First, there is one person who talks way too much. Second, there is one person who does not talk at all. And finally, there...

You know when you hold two mutually exclusive beliefs, like say, "American consumerism is bad for the world." and "I love to shop!" ? That's called cognitive dissonance. It can be an uncomfortable experience. Some people can simply ignore it. Others begin to believe in conspi...

In what I can only explain as a bizarre self-motivation technique, my husband likes to ask me, "Are you ready?" I am sitting on the couch waiting for him and he is (usually) still naked. In an unusual twist, this morning he was ready before me, and I was standing, semi-nude, in the closet ...

There are plenty of things that a lawyer-husband is not good for. Basic social interactions become some what strained under his "risk averse" nature. So then strange things start to occur. Things like worrying if you'll ever sue your neighbor or scaring landlords out of renting an apar...

At first, it was a birthday present. Then, through our mutual apathy it became a Christmas gift, and now, because these things always take a little longer that you think, it is an anniversary gift. Nearly three years after the fact, my husband gave me a wedding band. It's lovely. It looks kind o...

Last week I quit my church job. No two weeks notice, no big sad party. I simply walked into a meeting with my boss and walked out free.  In truth, it's been a long time coming.  Since I went part-time last May, things never quite fit. I trained a lovely young woman to do a lot of the...

One of the tasks at the new job is to buy snackies for all the employees.  The snack list is full of particular brands of chips and cookies, certain species of apples, and notes about who will DIE if they don't get their special snacks. It's a hard life being a scientist, apparently.&#...

Who needs to quit an old job before starting a new one? Not me! Today I began to do some short-term (and maybe longer term) work for my brother-in-law's smarty-pants start-up company. What will I do about the old ministry job? Who knows. I tried to quit last week and my boss said, "I was ho...

Another benefit of working for the church is that you are privy to information that you may not otherwise hear. Information like how my diocese and the diocese across the bay contributed money to the Yes on Prop. 8 campaign. I understand the Church's position on homosexuality. Hell, I've eve...

I am racking up Godchildren like a hooker on Saturday night. Aside from my sister's parish, (Episcopalians!) who made me attend a three hour baptismal prep class (it remains unclear if it was because we're heretical Catholics or because my sister neglected to mention baptismal classes were p...