Blog - Debra Rienstra

By Debra Rienstra In cultural commentary

The Enemy Within

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By Debra Rienstra In nature

On Cicadas, Parasites, and Creepy, Slimy Things

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By Debra Rienstra In memoir

The Remnants of Their Lives: An Ancestry Adventure

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Uncategorized

A Vote is Not a Valentine–Or a Virtue Test

It seems to me people have all kinds of unhelpful notions about what a vote means. And that can lead to them choosing not to vote, usually for either (or both) of two reasons. 1. They don’t think their vote matters. 2. They want to…

Debra RienstraMay 4, 2024

climate change spirituality theology

What Can the Church Offer to a World in Crisis?

What distinctive gifts does the church bring to the table? What can we offer, right now, in this moment in history? What gifts of the church are suited well for what we need?

Debra RienstraApril 6, 2024

cultural commentary pop culture

Messiah Complex

The cinematography is amazing! The production design incredible! The acting top-notch! The directing visionary! Eh. I was bored.

Debra RienstraMarch 23, 2024

liturgical year

Unless a Seed Falls: John 12:20-36

Even I have to admit, it looks terrible: broken, rotting stalks, bare dirt, no happy winged visitors. I tell myself there are over-wintering insects in there, that native roots are strong, that spring is coming. But right now: stillness, death.

Debra RienstraFebruary 24, 2024

liturgical year Pious Petunia silly

Pious Petunia Lifts Us Gently Over a Candy-Coated Lenten Threshold

Miss P recommends relaxed bemusement at the strained and unnecessary efforts of some Christians to claw back holy meaning for Ash Wednesday out of the lacey pink clutches of commercialized romance.

Debra RienstraFebruary 10, 2024

arts theology

Blessed Unrest

We often wonder what God is calling us to do in a particular moment or passage of life. Could we ask ourselves, in such moments, “What is my blessed unrest here?”

Debra RienstraJanuary 27, 2024

college life cultural commentary silly

My Summer Vacation: A Report

“How was your summer?” was the obvious lead-in to conversations, a question I’m never sure how to answer. And then, it struck me…

Debra RienstraAugust 25, 2012

memoir

Here’s What’s Cookin’

If the kitchen was command central of her household, then these recipes, I realized, were the mission logs. What a jumble of memory among those 3×5 index cards! I planned to thumb through them just to make sure I retrieved any recipes I especially liked,…

Debra RienstraAugust 11, 2012

cultural commentary

Yes!

Well, with the summer Olympics under way, here we go again. How do we celebrate women athletes without sexualizing them? I’m not sure we’re much closer to answers than we were thirteen years ago.

Debra RienstraJuly 27, 2012

spirituality

Further Up and Further In

Naturally hearing about such experiences make us wonder what heaven might really be like. Of course there are cultural commonplaces featuring harps, clouds, white-robed angels, and St. Peter at the pearly gates. The Bible offers a few glimpses: a shining city, a fruit-bearing tree, white-robed…

Debra RienstraJuly 14, 2012

The Enemy Within

On Cicadas, Parasites, and Creepy, Slimy Things

The Remnants of Their Lives: An Ancestry Adventure

A Vote is Not a Valentine–Or a Virtue Test

What Can the Church Offer to a World in Crisis?

Messiah Complex

Unless a Seed Falls: John 12:20-36

Pious Petunia Lifts Us Gently Over a Candy-Coated Lenten Threshold

Blessed Unrest

My Summer Vacation: A Report

Here’s What’s Cookin’

Yes!

Further Up and Further In

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