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Ruth Everhart

Author, Pastor, Speaker

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Ministry Leadership

November 21, 2022

Greetings to the Rock Creek Presbyterian Church (Tallula, IL) on their 200th Anniversary!

November 22, 2022 Dear Friends at Rock Creek — What a joyous occasion — a 200th anniversary! I send you my heartiest Congratulations and warmest Best Wishes. God has smiled upon the Rock Creek Church over the years, and I am happy to have served the saints there for six years in the 1990s. I … [Read more...] about Greetings to the Rock Creek Presbyterian Church (Tallula, IL) on their 200th Anniversary!

Rock Creek Presbyterian Church John M. Berry,  rural ministry

April 11, 2020

Easter during a Pandemic

(I wrote this for Easter 2020, but it's still applicable in Easter 2021. Published in The Christian Century.) Yesterday was Good Friday. Instead of working on a sermon or reading scripture to follow Jesus along the Via Dolorosa, I spent hours on the phone with my elderly mother, trying to help … [Read more...] about Easter during a Pandemic

Grief & Grieving,  Lent/Easter coronavirus,  Covid-19,  Easter,  Good Friday,  Holy Saturday,  stillbirth,  Triduum

December 15, 2019

A Different Way to Get Ready to Welcome Jesus

One way to get ready to greet Jesus is to become familiar with his birthplace, Palestine. Yesterday my husband and I visited The Museum of the Palestinian People in Washington, DC. It's quite new and has just a few exhibits about the land of Palestine. It's only open for limited hours, though the … [Read more...] about A Different Way to Get Ready to Welcome Jesus

Advent/Christmas,  Israel & Palestine Palestine,  refugees,  refugees in the Christmas story,  The Museum of the Palestinian People

June 19, 2018

What We Plant, a sermon on Mark 4:26-34

Jesus also said, The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain … [Read more...] about What We Plant, a sermon on Mark 4:26-34

Lectionary Study citing scripture to support slavery,  Galatians 6:7,  immigration,  Jeff Sessions,  justice,  Kingdom of God,  Laura Ingalls Wilder,  Mark 4:26-34,  proof-texting,  Romans 13:1,  the antidote to proof-texting,  the seed vault in Norway,  we reap what we sow

anniversary of ordination, ordversary, stole, vestment, clergy appreciation month

October 13, 2017

My 30th Anniversary of Ordination

This Wednesday is my 30th "Ordversary" -- or Anniversary of Ordination. I was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament on October 14, 1990. It's the kind of date I don't expect anyone else to notice. It's pure happenstance that the date falls during Clergy Appreciation Month! Years ago I … [Read more...] about My 30th Anniversary of Ordination

Ordained as a Clergywoman anniversary of ordination,  can women be ordained?,  ordination of women,  ordversary

May 4, 2017

Blood is Thicker Than Water, a sermon for Good Friday, John 19:16-30

This is a guest post by my sister, the Rev. Susan Joy Huizenga. She preached this sermon on Good Friday (4/14/17) at the Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center; Saginaw, MI. Some of you know Susan from an earlier?post about being a living kidney donor. One day when I was about twelve years old, my sister … [Read more...] about Blood is Thicker Than Water, a sermon for Good Friday, John 19:16-30

Lectionary Study,  Lent/Easter,  My Sister's Kidney Donation a sermon for Good Friday,  a sermon reflecting on a living kidney donation,  Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center,  John 19:16-30,  Susan J. Huizenga,  what are blood ties?

February 8, 2017

How to Wear Your History: Suggestions for Churches

Some churches wear their history like a feathered cape -- with the past thrown lightly over the shoulders of the present. The past is color, context, and dramatic flair. Some churches wear their history like a shroud -- with the past draped heavily over the face of the present. The past is … [Read more...] about How to Wear Your History: Suggestions for Churches

Leading the Small Church church history

January 29, 2017

Would Jesus Have Marched? Salt & Light

I have a lectionary essay on Matthew 5:13-20 over at Journey with Jesus. … [Read more...] about Would Jesus Have Marched? Salt & Light

Lectionary Study Journey with Jesus,  Matthew 5:13-20,  salt and light,  sermon on the mount

January 6, 2017

The Problem of Church Clutter

Tidying up and editing our spaces is big business -- especially during this pandemic year. And for good reason -- our space impacts our mood in ways we may not recognize. While church clutter may seem like a trivial problem, it is not. A cluttered church communicates a message at odds with what … [Read more...] about The Problem of Church Clutter

Church Clutter church clutter,  clean-up day at church,  Matthew 6:19-21

June 28, 2016

Memorial Service Liturgy

My father wrote the liturgy for his memorial service many years before his death. Working with it after he died, I felt very close to him. As a pastor, I have planned and conducted many funerals. Years ago Dad told me he wanted to prepare his own memorial service liturgy, and asked me to send him a … [Read more...] about Memorial Service Liturgy

Grief & Grieving,  Ordained as a Clergywoman grieving for a parent,  memorial service,  memorial service liturgy,  Nicholas J. Huizenga

December 21, 2015

The Body of Christ is Both Tough & Fragile

When I was in seminary I was taught: Small churches are tough. You can't beat them to death with a stick! I believed that truism, and repeated it to others. Now I have fresh experience that allows me to see the backside of that truism, which is also true: Small churches are fragile. So far in my … [Read more...] about The Body of Christ is Both Tough & Fragile

Leading the Small Church,  Published in Christian Century Leading a small church which is going to close,  when a church dies

November 20, 2015

Is That You, Jesus? Thoughts on Immigration

Why do so many Christians resist welcoming the Syrian refugees? I am baffled by this. Embracing the stranger is an essential Christian teaching. You might say that hospitality is in the Christian DNA. (A few supporting texts:?here and here and here.) I am a?Protestant who has learned to appreciate … [Read more...] about Is That You, Jesus? Thoughts on Immigration

Church Hospitality,  Learning as an Air Bnb Host Air BnB,  Immigration policy,  What Jesus says about welcoming strangers

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Recent Blogposts:
  • NYC Weekend: Celebrating a Milestone Birthday
  • Greetings to the Rock Creek Presbyterian Church (Tallula, IL) on their 200th Anniversary!
  • Lady Gaga in Concert, DC Aug 2022
  • Embassy Tour 2022 — European Union
  • Embassy Tour in DC, May 2022