If your worship services are anything like the ones at my church, you probably follow one of the hymnal’s communion settings, you probably have a choir or a cantor lead the opening liturgy, and you probably have lay assistants help the pastor(s) lead worship. This is how it is at]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/canting Have you ever heard of a “Proverbs 31 Woman?” That term was new to me when I encountered it in A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master” by Rachel Held Evans. What do “biblical]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/god-expect-us As so often is the case, writer Anne Lamott has said it better than I could. In a recent Facebook post, Lamott wrote

If you always dreamed of writing a novel or a memoir, and you used to love to write, and were pretty good at it, will it break]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/waiting-for It made the headlines. I have not heard much of an uproar about it. Not even on Facebook.  Maybe it happened too fast? It happened in one day.

There was anguish in the halls of Congress over the long lines at airports and the flight delays caused by the furlough of air-traffic controllers so Congress strapped]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/precious Last weekend I was privileged to attend the Metro DC SWO (synodical women’s organization) spring convention where I met many who are loyal and dedicated to Women of the ELCA. Like several SWOs, these women are worried about their numbers, both financial and human.

The theme of the conference was Communication: Vertical and]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/secret-message I read a lot of blogs. Not counting this one, I check in with at least 49 blogs daily. Using Blogshelf, a RSS reader app on my iPad, I organize and read those 49 blogs. I read blogs about quilting (the largest group of blogs I read), tea, writing, non-profit marketing (the]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/case-blogs As child of the 80s, I am thankful that my childhood happened without cellphones and social media networks. My embarrassing photos reside safely in a large plastic box—at my mom’s house. That was until recently. My mom managed to unearth an extremely embarrassing photo from middle school, scan it, and post it to Facebook. (I]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/facebook-photo-etiquette-or-mom-posting-horribly-unflattering-photos As I sit above my flooded basement, listening to our sole working pump in the garage valiantly going through its cycle beneath a flooded garage, and looking out over our flooded backyard, I think about how our changing weather map continues to send us one clear message from planet earth:  Help!  I am going into]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/earth-day-2013 Emma met Sima and Casey, from South Africa and Hong Kong, at the 2013 Women’s Funding Network conference in Detroit.

In 2011, Janet Sape opened a bank for women in Papau New Guinea. She is a longtime activist for women’s rights in a country where rape and violence against women are pervasive. Most banks]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/distracted-violence-violence Our lives are made up days we will always remember. They can bring us great happiness and deep sorrow. They help shape and make us who we are. We can be forever changed by these days.

For me, one of those was April 16, 2007. I am a staff member at Virginia Tech in]]> http://www.womenoftheelca.org/blog/guns