All posts by Lori Heine

Desert cacti at night against starry sky

Like Desert Plants

What do we do when we experience spiritual dryness? How do we overcome that block? The Christian life is often very literally a wandering in the wilderness. Regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, Christians tend to go through periods when they feel that God

Wood frame house

Living in a House Haunted by Love

I’m sometimes asked if my house is haunted. My father died there, my mother died homesick for it and, years earlier, she claimed to have been visited there by my grandmother’s ghost. The place is over 60 years old, and it certainly does contain its

Woman on Laptop on Bench

Sisterhood of the Traveling Undies: A Short Story

Lindsay leaned over her computer keyboard, intent on the spaceman-green letters on the screen. Though her typing 201 class still used manual typewriters, here in Mr. Coyote’s Business Machines the school went high-tech. The teacher glided past Lindsay’s row like a phantom, peering down at

Adult crowd in action

The Big Whopper

“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. (Exodus 20:7) “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16) When they stop talking about the Bible and actually read it, people are surprised to find that there is

Superman action figure

Jesus: Man of Steel?

I consider myself an orthodox progressive Christian. The first part of that definition refers to my beliefs about doctrine, the second to how I believe I should live my life. Though the two terms pertain to different things, I see no logical conflict between them.

Young Couple Enjoying Romantic Moments in Nature

Brains in Our Shorts

Religious legalists have been obsessed with sex — and especially with other people’s sex lives — for many hundreds of years. Their attitudes toward Jesus’s mother have demonstrated that obsession quite clearly. I believe the Virgin Birth story in Luke points to the doctrine of

Rows of empty chairs in an airport

When Our Number Comes Up

What do we do when our number comes up? Waiting, after all, is not an end in itself; we wait because one day – at least theoretically – our number will be called. It will be our turn. Then the wait will be over, and

Girls swimming in pool wearing sunglasses

The Public Pool

Every day, in our society, we see examples of gross injustice. We bemoan what seems, to most of us, a growing trend. But we don’t quite know how to make sense of it. What the talking heads who comment on the problem all too often

Flipping the page of a Bible

Thoroughly Modern Millies

“There are those, I suppose, Think we’re mad, heaven knows The world has gone to rack and to ruin …” Opening lyrics to theme song from “Thoroughly Modern Millie” Fundamentalist Christians no longer call themselves by that name. They want to distance themselves from fundamentalists