Author Archives: Jenny Rae Armstrong
“You Are More Than…” Best Mother’s Day Sermon EVER!
Mother's Day sermons are notoriously awful. Sentimental tripe that leaves some women feeling smugly self-satisfied, while others leave licking their wounds. But not this Mother's Day sermon, given by my friend James Walsh, an associate pastor at my church. Seriously? You've got ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me, Part 3
In Part 1, I talked about my early understandings (and misunderstandings) of the Proverbs 31 Woman. In Part 2, I shared some of the things I have learned about the theology underlying Proverbs 31. And in Part 3, I'm going to make ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me, Part 2
In Part 1 of this post, I talked about my early thoughts about the Proverbs 31 Woman: from my childhood perception of her as a wise, kind instructor that I should emulate, to the law-ridden measuring stick of Christian womanhood ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me, Part 1
It's going to be a busy week around here, so I'll be reposting a three-part series I wrote last summer, on my old blog. Enjoy! I've had an ambiguous relationship with the Proverbs 31 Woman over the years. When I was a ...
Happy Mother’s Day to EVERYONE!
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast, and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" - God, Isaiah 49:15 Here's to a God who loves us even better ...
Tylenol Christianity: Offering Hope and Healing, Instead of Easy Answers and Trite Advice
Sometimes, I feel like the church has a hard time lingering in places of pain. Abuse. Homosexuality. Bullying. Singleness. Disability. Abortion. Illness. Addiction. Grief. We tend to skim right over these topics, offering quick, carefully-crafted statements about our stance on the issue. ...
Friday Favorites, 5/11/2012
A collection of some of my favorite reads of the week: "In Which I'm No Angry Feminist" by Sarah Bessey. This post made me cry. When it comes to advocating for women, I'd say there are three primary motivators--intellectual integrity, justice, ...
We Are the Pharisees
Pharisees get a bad rap. I know, I know--there's that whole "brood of vipers," "conspiring to kill Jesus" thing. Not their brightest moments. But did you know that several of Jesus' followers, and many, many members of the early church, were ...
Taking Care of Business
Just for fun--this is some very shaky footage I took at the DeepWater JAM, our version of a "recital." This is the song that kicked off the JAM, with some of our youngest students. The kids are 8-11 (except for ...
Oppressors, Activists, and Spiritual Stinginess: St. Paul’s Guide to Praying Better Prayers
"And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ." -Philemon 1:6 I was reading Philemon this weekend, and many things ...
It's funny how these things come full circle in our lives. While working on the message about the need for women to find their identity in Christ, instead of in their relationships with others, I've been thinking a lot about ...
Boyfriends, Bad Ideas, and the Bella-Katniss Continuum: Jenny’s Message on Identity in Christ
I was SO blessed to be able to speak at my beloved Mission Covenant Church last Sunday! The topic was how cohabitation hurts women and children, but we focused on the why--WHY do women get involved in relationships they know ...
Patriarchy, Pop Culture, and Pornography, Part 2
(Continued from Part 1) What it comes down to is that in many ways, society ascribes value to women based on how attractive they are to men. (This is only exacerbated by women’s idolatrous tendency to base their identity on who ...
Patriarchy, Pop Culture, and Pornography, Part 1
Several years ago, I read “The DaVinci Code” to see what all the fuss was about. It was nothing special—a fast-paced novel with interesting, if inaccurate, historical details woven in—but one line still stands out to me. The leading lady ...
(I know, I know--another inflammatory title. But if you're not feeling a bit inflamed by the end of this post, I don't know what's wrong with you.) Wading through statistics makes me cranky. My inner journalist, latent as she may be, ...
Okay, yes, inflammatory title. But I read something last night that made my stomach knot up into a ball Contrary to public perception, research shows that the most likely physical abuser of a young child will be that child's mother, not ...
Simulcasting, Shacking Up, and Very Bad Blogging
I will be the first to admit that I have been a Very Bad Blogger lately. I gave myself permission to put my online presence aside for Lent, but by the time Easter rolled around, I had other things to ...
#Kony2012, Sour Fufu, and All God’s Children
In case you've been hiding under a rock for the last few days and haven't seen Invisible Children's viral film about Joseph Kony, I'll embed it here. Go ahead and watch it. I'll wait... Of course there has been a flurry ...
In 1522, Protestant reformer Ulrich Zwingli was involved with the scandalous consumption of sausage during Lent, an event that sparked the Reformation in Switzerland. (Given that some of my ancestors were Mennonites who immigrated to America from Switzerland, I can’t ...
(Disclaimer--I am recovering from the flu, and only have a few minutes to bang out this post, so I am going to apologize in advance for the gross lack of citation. But that's what Google is for, right?) This isn't exactly ...
We're on the second week of the study I'm facilitating on "Half the Church," and I'm loving the discussions we're been having. I've been so blessed by the insights the women in my community have, and the stories they share. However, this has ...
Adoption, Women, and BFFs: More Jumbled Thoughts
Writing isn't supposed to be therapy--at least not the kind that happens outside your journal. But sometimes it is. This was certainly the case with my recent post about adoption. I was always a little bit conflicted about it, aware that ...
Living in the Mess: The Problem With Outcome-Based Christianity
My post about the orphan crisis and world missions is up at Red Letter Christians today. I've always struggled a little with that post, feeling that it didn't quite express what I wanted to get across, so imagine my delight ...
Natasha and Sophie’s Radical Challenge
If you've read this blog for long, you know how much I loved "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream" by David Platt. Well, my friend Natasha loved it too, and blogged through the entire book. Now, she ...
Evangelicals and Eating Disorders
Yep, you read that right. "Evangelicals and Eating Disorders." That's what I'm writing about today. Rachel Stone just rocked my world with her post "How Patriarchy Gave Me an Eating Disorder." I didn't quite have the courage to share it on ...
Going There: Another Take on the Orphan Crisis
It's been just over two years since a magnitude 7 earthquake hit Haiti, killing more than a quarter of a million people and leaving thousands of children orphaned, overwhelming a nation already in crisis. Kristen Howerton, who has adopted from ...
Can I make a generalization? Women sell themselves WAY short. To themselves, as well as others. I remember the first time I wanted to teach a Bible study (and I use this term loosely) for adults. I was petrified. I reasoned that surely ...
Toxic Christianity: When Our Public Face Poisons Faith
If there's one thing that leaves me completely aghast, it's Christians hurting one another and using religion to justify their behavior, or citing it as the reason that they didn't step in to defend the hurting, vulnerable party. It's the child ...
Kim Jong Il, Horton the Elephant, and Human Nature
I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas! I had a wonderful time, and even realized that is possible--and rather relaxing--to go over a week without opening your computer (as long as you're on vacation)! The bad side of that ...
My crazy schedule delayed me posting this, but here is the promised guest post by my fellow Redbud Vivian Mabuni. It ties in with my previous post on Christ and culture, and raises the question of how our cultural lenses ...
