Welcome to the Purple Pen

Hey Friends,


Welcome to the Purple Pen. I hope to use this platform to connect with others who have a desire to learn to love more. My call is rooted in God’s compassion, love and acceptance as well as the command to do justice. Too often clergy with amplified voices are ones who align with partisan and societal agendas. Through the Purple Pen, I hope to amplify Christ’s voice of radical, inclusive love.   


The denomination in which I am ordained is the United Church of Christ and I am currently serving my fifth year as a pastor of a church. I am a Gen Xer that grew up in the denomination and one of the things I continually grieve is the lack of Gen Xers involved in our churches. Though I grieve their absence, I know it is because our churches have not used their voice enough. They have allowed other voices of judgment from other denominations to shape the perceptions of churches as a whole. And often our churches themselves do not want to make bold statements of faith in the public square out of fear of losing their own members who do not want to make waves.


I often find myself connecting with people who have given up on the idea of church usually because of spiritual abuse or no longer believing in the religious dogma their church lived by. Sometimes they find having an affirming conversation with me brings them comfort and still have no intentions of ever stepping foot inside a church again. And others reach out to me in hopes of finding a church they can connect with again. Either way, I find myself being called to journey with those in their deconstruction journey.


The Purple Pen is one way for me to get out from the church walls and connect with those who are searching for an inclusive voice for love and justice. My goal emerging from the pandemic is to dedicate time out among the people as a progressive member of the clergy. I’m open to wherever the spirit guides in making new connections.


Grace & Peace,


The Purple Pastor



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The USA is in Moral Decay

Image
These past few weeks I have been in self reflection and discernment concerning the moral decay of our country and the ICE raids in Minnesota that are requiring Minnesotans to care for their neighbors in the most loving and profound way. At first, I was stuck on the question, how did we get here? And then I realized that the answer of that question most likely has a lot of different answers that are all of some validity.  From a faith perspective, I have witnessed the identity of Jesus becoming rebranded from the table flipping challenger of both religious authorities and government regimes to a conservative politician who loves imposing rules over freedom. This new identity is being promoted in the public square by politicians and other religious groups. They are using this Jesus to justify actions they are taking in government strategies.  I turn to my fellow Gen Xers, and even to the millennials, and they have mostly abandoned the mainline protestant church . I don’t blame ...
Read more

That Which Has Breath

Image
The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. And I’m scared. I’m scared for all of the women and girls who will die in desperation. I am scared of all of the fear and shame that will live in more women and girls. I am scared that this is just the opening of a door that will lead to the ripping away of rights and protections of people in this country. And I’m scared that I am too exhausted to fight. As people in a country that declares liberty and justice for all we are extremely disconnected. We’ve lost our way. We’ve come to find pleasure in the pain and misfortune of our fellow Americans. We’ve decided that our neighbor is now our enemy. Those who are celebrating the end of Roe v. Wade say that there are choices between sex and no sex, as if we are not created to be sexual human beings who have sex for pleasure, as if rape, incest, human trafficking, etc. doesn’t exist. As an ordained clergywoman in the United Church of Christ, I am afraid that there is nothing new that I can say th...
Read more