How do you celebrate traditional holidays as an interfaith couple? My husband Daniel, a secular humanist, and I, a contemplative mystic, left Christian evangelicalism a few years ago. This Advent series has allowed us to explore and articulate what is still meaningful to both of us about the holidays. We’ve covered various traditions, astrophysics, deconstruction, … More Deconstructing Advent Part Four: Love
We’re over half-way through our interfaith celebration of the winter seasonal holidays as a pseudo-Christian/Atheist family! Wait, what? How does one even begin to celebrate traditional holidays now that you’ve deconstructed and come to some very different worldviews as a couple? I’m glad you asked – as did so many others over the past while. … More Deconstructing Advent Part Three: Joy
Welcome to an interfaith celebration of the holidays as a pseudo-Christian/Atheist family! How do we celebrate our family’s traditional holidays after deconstruction? I’m glad you asked! I’ve realized new ways the Advent season is still meaningful to me as an ecumenical, contemplative mystic coming out of Christian evangelicalism. As a secular humanist and since it … More Deconstructing Advent Part Two: Peace
If you want a gorgeous yard, don’t fluff the blades of grass, get down to work on the roots and soil. The grassroots is the most fundamental, basic level of well, grass, but also ideas or political movements. Freedom is a grassroots value of America. Love is a grassroots part of marriage. Reading and writing … More Weeding out the Root: Getting to the heart of why the “freedom” convoy is not Christian love in action
Being in the midst of another public health lockdown has got me missing a lot of things. I miss seeing family and close friends, and sharing a meal together (I love food). I miss getting together in larger groups and I especially miss singing in a group. However, one of the things I miss the … More In Pursuit of Shared Meaning
Previously, we attempted to define deconstruction for anyone on a faith journey. Deconstruction isn’t for everyone. It can be disorienting, disheartening, distressful. I also want to say that deconstruction should be and may actually happen to everyone. It is a natural part of human developmental psychology and developing personal identity and resilience. Pretending it doesn’t … More The Names They Called Me
Published on January 15, 2015 on sarasmanyhats.ca. A bit of a longer post, with a pointed message on unity that I believe can be summed up in this quote: Jesus Christ asks us to interpret ourselves, and each other, with the same hospitable, good-hearted diligence that we grant to him. He offers the truth not … More From the Archives: On Differences in the Church
The Prairie Thistle 