Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Articles”
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
Last Friday, when the Supreme Court officially released its ruling on the reversal of Roe V. Wade, I was grateful that I had already written and released the Friday e-news because it would give me a week to think through my spiritual reflections. Though seven days later, my heart remains …
Lara Schopp Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
Someone came over and stood at the foot of his bed and rubbed his feet. Writer and teacher Parker Palmer tells in one of his books about the time when he fell into such a deep depression that he could no longer get out of bed in the morning. Folks …
Lara Schopp Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one’s inner life. -Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life The artist’s brush strokes make a difference. The way the light focuses your attention on a particular character in the Biblical …
Lara Schopp Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
By the time you read this our church group of 46 will have said “Arrivederci” to Florence and Rome. The final stop on our “Bible and Art” tour was the Basilica of Santa Croce, where legend suggests that St. Francis of Assisi laid the cornerstone. Michelangelo, Galileo and Dante are …
Lara Schopp Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
More than 30 years ago our church formed a partnership with a sister African American congregation named Swope Parkway United Christian Church. We enjoyed pulpit and choir exchanges and dinner groups. During that time I made a lifelong friend named Mary Lou Kepler. She had a civic job at the …
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
Today at 11:32 a.m., precisely 48 hours after an 18-year old high school graduate murdered children and teachers in their 4th grade classroom, I gathered with area clergy to lament the violence and fear, to share our grief and to seek change. Rev. Adam Hamilton, Rev. Tom Are, Rev. Shanna …
Lara Schopp Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
May and June are filled with activities where families seem to be woven and re-woven together: graduations, weddings, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, end-of-the-year recitals, and in our family we celebrate five birthdays and three wedding anniversaries. But we know that families are also fragile and everything does not always …
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
When Leonardo DaVinci was turning 30, he needed a job so he wrote a letter to the ruler of Milan. In the first 10 paragraphs he touted his own success and skill as an engineer who could build bridges, cannons and buildings. And then in the eleventh paragraph, he mentioned …
Lara Schopp Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
A lady brought me a silver teapot. Her friend, a member of our church, died decades ago but wanted the church to have this silver teapot for our future tea parties. Should I keep it or give it away? A member of the choir asks, “Should the choir sing weekly …
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
“What is essential? And what is non-essential?” Krista Tippett raised these two questions in her talk on “Remaking the World” last week. It reminded me of the things I let go of during the pandemic: frenetic activity, relationships that were not life giving, eating out, meetings that could have been …
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
My eyes were closed. I took a breath. A unison chorus of voices reverberated off of the walls and inside the caverns of my heart. “Our father…Our daily bread…Our debts.” The moment that startled me and gripped me was not the Hallelujah Chorus or the trumpet fanfare or the organ shaking the …
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
Good Friday turns our attention to the holy mystery of a crucified God. We ponder why God would send love to earth in human form only to let him die as a common criminal. The big theological questions loom on Good Friday as we remember the passion of Jesus and …
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
“You are drinking chocolate milk even though you gave up sweets for Lent. You are just forming another bad habit,” my 9 year old granddaughter accused her 11 year old sister. It was clearly a taunt. Isn’t it funny how kids can bicker, even over spiritual practices? I tried to …
Lara Schopp Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
I don’t remember how I became acquainted with the work of Krista Tippet. For years I listened to her spiritually reflective interviews with various cutting edge thinkers in science, religion and literature. Her voice was a healing balm to me on long walks as I would plug in her podcast …
Lara Schopp Articles, Carla Aday, Senior Minister Blog
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” Forty days. Jesus, our Lord, spent forty days facing trials and temptations, worries and struggles. In a way, it makes no sense …
