I wish God’s Hotel were a book with pictures. No matter how precise Victoria Sweet’s descriptions, the world her words conjure is difficult to imagine. A hospital that looks more like a… Continue reading
Blog
Masks & Mirrors
What happens when you bring together a yearning at RCWMS to showcase someone’s art, a gorgeous venue, and the idea that a day should be designated to celebrating women in… Continue reading
Art Weekends at the Beach
During the last week of February, a large beach house on Emerald Isle—with a magnificent view of the sound in one direction and a one-block walk to the beach in… Continue reading
On Immunity: An Inoculation
It seems like every time I turn around these days I run into another story about vaccination. To me the message seems clear: everyone without a contraindicating medical issue should… Continue reading
2015 RCWMS Essay Contest Winners
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2015 RCWMS Essay Contest, “Embodying Faith.” First place goes to Rebecca Lanning of Durham, NC, for her essay, “How to Pet… Continue reading
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
I’m usually skeptical about film adaptations of my favorite books, but after laughing and crying my way through reading Wild last fall, I was thrilled to learn the film was coming out… Continue reading
Citizen: An American Lyric
Those unfamiliar with the breadth of contemporary poetry may be surprised when they crack the cover of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. A collage of prose poems, short essays, and images, Citizen often… Continue reading
Befriending Death
What would it look like to befriend death? That was the question presented to a circle of women on at the first session of a series of workshops sponsored by… Continue reading
Imaging My Inner Fire
If any of your New Year’s resolutions include creative and artistic pursuits, you’ll find a welcome companion in Martha Jane Petersen’s Imaging My Inner Fire: Finding My Path Through Creating Art…. Continue reading
The New Jim Crow
Last fall, a small group of women at RCWMS read The New Jim Crow together over several weeks. This was after the shooting of Michael Brown, before decisions by grand juries not… Continue reading
Epiphany Labyrinth Walk, January 6, 2015
In the Christian tradition, Epiphany is the celebration of the visit of the three wise people to the baby Jesus. Epiphany comes from ancient Greek meaning “manifestation” or “striking appearance.”… Continue reading
20th Annual Interfaith Celebration of Community, Spirit and Change
A week before the Solstice, the Resource Center hosted the 20th annual Interfaith Celebration of Community, Spirit and Change at Beth El Synogogue in Durham. We had to keep adding… Continue reading
Homegrown: NC Women’s Preaching Festival
RCWMS is excited to sponsore the 2014 Homegrown: NC Women’s Preaching Festival. In October of 2012 and again in 2013, over 65 North Carolina clergy women gathered for two days of… Continue reading
Bad Feminist
“In embracing the messiness of feminism as a lived, embodied thing, rather than stopping short with an abstract concept or ideology, Gay creates space to embark on a wider conversation,… Continue reading
The Empathy Exams
Lately, every time I go online I see another article by or about Leslie Jamison. Her essay collection, The Empathy Exams, which won the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, was released this… Continue reading
The Faraway Nearby
I just finished Rebecca Solnit’s luminous new book, The Faraway Nearby. It is so brimming with breathtaking passages that I am tempted to just line up quotations so that you can… Continue reading
Love Has No Borders
Rev. Angie Wright’s Love Has No Borders: How Faith Leaders Resisted Alabama’s Harsh Immigration Law is a visual and written record of public protests by Alabama faith leaders after their state legislature… Continue reading
Dog Songs
“What would this world be like without dogs?” asks Mary Oliver in her newest collection of poems, Dog Songs. I, for one, do not wish to ever know the answer to… Continue reading
Ann Patchett
I first encountered Ann Patchett when my book club chose her third novel, The Magician’s Assistant, for our monthly conversation. This quirky novel about Sabine, the widowed assistant to her magician… Continue reading
Sustaining Simplicity
In terms of possessions and money, what do you really need to live a good life? How much is enough? If you have less stuff, can you do more with… Continue reading
Black Milk: On the Conflicting Demands of Writing, Creativity, and Motherhood
What is necessary for a writing life? This is the question that Elif Shafak, one of Turkey’s most celebrated authors, wrestles with in her spiritual memoir, Black Milk: On the Conflicting… Continue reading
The Sapphires
“It’s 1968 and four young, talented Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertain the US troops in Vietnam.” (IMDB) The Sapphires,… Continue reading
Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint
“It’s small, it’s surprising, and it’s a little profane, but it’s the real thing” (p. 162). Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber uses these words to speak of the way that the reign of… Continue reading
Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion
Food and faith are a natural combination. A central element of Christianity, after all, is taking communion, eating bread and drinking wine. This eating and drinking is embraced by Jesus… Continue reading