Sher Gerber
Tending Sacred Spaces
Author: shergerber
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Book Review: Birthing the Holy
The organization I work for has found itself in a threshold season. As Christine Valters Paintner writes in her newest book, Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal, “Thresholds are liminal times when the past season has come to a close but there is a profound unknowing of what will come…
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Unchosen Journeys: Caregiving (Part 3)
This is not the story I thought I’d be living. And yet here we are. What can be done to help the caregivers around us? How can we protect our health and well-being as we care for our families? What can we do to make caregiving sustainable? Here are a few ideas This is the…
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Unchosen Journeys: Caregiving (Part 2)
As with many things in life, caregiving is complicated. Whether you are a caregiver, care-receiver or walking with a friend or family member in one of these roles, it is helpful to consider the significant emotional realities that people are dealing with. Whether or not it is an acknowledged reality, as a caregiver, you are…
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Unchosen Journeys: Caregiving (Part 1)
We know death comes for us all. There is no escaping it. But when you or a loved one receives a terminal diagnosis, everything changes. Suddenly, this isn’t the story I thought I’d be living. I don’t expect you to care about my particular story, I told the caregivers gathered in the church fellowship hall…
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Book Review: The Soul’s Slow Ripening
“The longest journey seems to be the letting go of the expectations, the assumptions, the woundedness; all of the ways we seek just what we are looking for rather than what is waiting to be revealed.” (Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul’s Slow Ripening) The early days of the pandemic came just a few weeks into…
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Fight Like Jesus
Just a few weeks post-op, I found myself standing in an unfamiliar pulpit, preparing to preach to a crowd of people who were mostly unknown to me. My hands were a bit shaky (a side effect of temporary medications); I had tried on too many outfits (in an attempt to figure out which what would…
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Book Review: Walking Each Other Home
I grew up in a pastor’s family. From the beginning of their marriage my parents were in ministry together, and as I grew up, my mom continued to embrace her own sense of call and giftedness. Perhaps then it’s unsurprising that I, too, now find myself in ministry; embracing my calling and gifts as my…
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A Blessing: for when you are living a nightmare
When fear lodges in your throat When anxiety crouches at your feet When the monster of what if sits on you chest May you stay present to what is, not catastrophizing When you are holding on to the end of your rope When you cannot see a path forward, a way through May you refuse…