Mapping Church Missions, Book Review
As a member of a small, rural Maine church, I often wonder how to make our congregation more relevant to our community. For the people who walk through our doors on Sunday morning, we are a friendly, encouraging bunch – so much so that the coffee hour often eclipses...
Book Review: A Voice Becoming
When my 18-year-old son recently had his wisdom teeth removed, I joked that this was his rite of passage. “Some people fast on mountains or get covered in fire ants,” I said, recalling documentaries I’ve seen about how other cultures initiate adolescents into the world of adults. “We take out wisdom teeth.” For most in our contemporary, Western culture, there is no rite of passage between youth and young adulthood. Getting a driver’s license might count, or going to college. But what if parents intentionally set out to create a series of challenges and experiences to not only mark but prepare young people for this significant passage? That’s what author Beth Bruno did with her 12-year-old daughter, Ella, a journey she chronicles in her new memoir, A Voice Becoming, a Yearlong Mother-Daughter journey into Passionate, Purposed Living (Faith Words, 2018).
Book Review: Jesus Every Day
As a young adult, my New Year’s resolutions often involved reading through the Bible in a year or praying for a prescribed number of minutes or hours – Yes, hours! – per day. Inevitably, I fell short, as did my resolutions to drop a certain number of pounds, exercise for a certain number of hours, or finish writing a certain-length manuscript. As lofty as such goals are, they typically run hard into reality, and reality usually wins.
Book Review: Everbloom
Transformation is often hard, the dramatic change in form or appearance from one phase to another. I’m no butterfly, gracefully shifting from creeping grub to bright-winged wonder. But for me, September is all about change as my two oldest children head to college, another begins high school, and my two youngest ride to school for the first time. After two decades of full-time mothering and nearly as many years of homeschooling, this season is full of transformation. One way I prepared was by reading Everbloom: Stories of Living Deeply Rooted and Transformed Lives (Paraclete Press, 2017), by the Redbud Writers Guild, of which I am a member.
Meadow Rue
Wife, mom, writer, friend, sharing God in my everyday life through “Faith Notes.”