MWR : Articles : Living the Story

Last updated December 05.

Send letters to the editor, or suggestions for our stories or Web site, to MWR‘s editors.

Articles : Living the Story

Don’t be unequally yoked

Are labor unions caring justice makers or self-centered budget breakers? Earlier this year we watched as differing opinions on unions clashed in Wisconsin and rippled into our conversations.

Young see world differently

I was bemoaning what I perceived to be a faulty church decision when my young adult daughter said, “But mom, it’s not about you. Don’t take it personal.” I hadn’t realized I was taking it personally. Her comments helped me see the situation differently.

Sins everybody’s business?

There you are standing before the congregation confessing your deepest struggle. Is it a nightmare or a dream come true?

Embarrassment and grace

The refrigerator magnet declared: “Embarrassing my children … just one more service I offer.” I stared at the magnet and remembered my own childhood embarrassment. My dad talked too loud. My aunt was crazy. My clothes were hand-me-downs. My grounds for embarrassment were sometimes real, sometimes imagined.

The original Christmas song

Christmas songs fill our heads with visions of long-awaited toys for good children, gentle snowflakes falling and joy-filled homes for tired shoppers.

Blinded by a narrow view

Like an unwanted song that lingers too long, my mind keeps returning to the PowerPoint image of a huge foundation block labeled “Genesis.” On this foundation rested the doctrines of the church. If the bottom rock crumbles, faith dies.

Accounting for hidden sins

There was a farmer, let’s call him Mr. B, who found a way to save money. Calculating the charge for disposing old batteries, Mr. B paid a bill he owed a mechanic by taking batteries. It was a “good” deal for the mechanic and for Mr. B. He dumped the batteries in his lagoon, which became poisoned. When Mr. B died, the farm’s new owner had to clean up the mess. (Some details of this story have been changed to protect identities.)

Jesus keeps the wine flowing

As we anticipate our daughter’s backyard wedding, I am seeing weeds I hadn’t noticed. I start thinking that weeds might qualify as a social embarrassment and remember a wedding where Jesus saved a family from social humiliation.

Equal pay for unequal work

The noise of immigration reform bounced around in my brain. It clashed with the buzzing left over from the pronouncement against social justice churches by TV and radio commentator Glenn Beck.