I suffered from chronic back pain for years and most of the prayer ministers at my church knew it. During that season I was a regular recipient of prayer during Communion on Sunday mornings. One Sunday morning I walked into church particularly discouraged, almost unable to find the words to even ask– again– for healing….
The Rev. Hannah King is a priest, writer, and mother. She has been a campus minister to conservatory musicians, an apartment minister in downtown Dallas, and a parish pastor in Northern Virginia and South Carolina. She currently serves as a priest in residence at The Vine Anglican Church in Western North Carolina. She shares her writing at hannahmillerking.com
When God Seems Silent: A Good Friday Reflection
In Shusaku Endo’s famous novel Silence, two Portuguese priests are sent as missionaries to Japan. The year is 1637, and the Japanese church is struggling under the weight of religious persecution. These priests want to encourage the fledgling flock, so they give their lives to a dangerous voyage and the possibility of martyrdom. When they…
Putting Our Worship to Work: How the Pandemic Can Renew Our Relationship with Church
One summer during college I thought it would be fun to sew a dress for myself. I only succeeded because my grandmother intervened to rescue the project. Her generation still had a muscle memory for homegrown and homemade goods. I grew up shopping for what I needed. Our consumer economy trains us to buy, not…
The Pregnant Promise of the Annunciation
What Day Is It? When a crisis hits, it’s easy to lose track of time. “What day is it today?” has been asked in our (virtual) office a lot this week. Our minds are all muddled, our senses are in overdrive, and our routines have been disrupted. This is why, even though I otherwise expected…
Advent for Exiles: When the Holidays Aren’t Happy
The American Dream In the American imagination, the “holiday season”—that stretch of weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas—is a magical one. It calls to mind beautifully decorated tables and the nearness of loved ones. It is shrouded in soft light and comes with the promise of fulfilled longing. Whether we carry childish hope for the ultimate…
Learning to Love the Whole Church: Why I Decided to Join the Anglican Church in North America
If someone had told me ten years ago that today I would be an Anglican priest, I would not have responded with joy or even disappointment; I simply would have been confused. Raised in a squarely evangelical culture, I grew up without conscious knowledge of liturgical denominations—and probably a degree of suspicion toward them. I…
