Rev Karla’s Blog

Demolish, Repair, Restore A Season of Healing In 2013, my husband and I began a serious renovation project. Our 40+ year old home was in dire need of being rescued from its 1970’s design and we were looking forward to bringing our sacred living space into the current decade. Our excitement morphed into exhaustion after…

Christianity’s Day of Reckoning For a minute, it was somewhat entertaining. The scenario would go something like this…. I would make a video disparaging the churches that are “welcoming” but not “affirming,” or who are intricately linked to white supremacy, which is inherent in American Christianity. Post video. Wait for the comments to confirm the…

The Strength and Beauty of a Snowflake The hypocrisy in disparaging creation The 60’s were a dichotomy. They held great tension as people risked their lives to free themselves from the oppression their ancestors had endured. Even brutal winters did not deter activists from marching in frigid temps to stand together and fight for their…

What Does the Lord Require of You? Not What You Think “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Chances are, you recognize that line from The Wizard of Oz. Throughout history, Hollywood has gifted us memorable quotes that are used metaphorically in everyday language. From Humphrey Bogart’s “Here’s looking at you, kid” in Casablanca (1942)…

Dear Mr. President Prologue: For the first time since I began writing a blog several years ago, I’ve included a prologue. I hadn’t considered it necessary until a video version of this writing titled, “Dear Mr. President” was posted on social media. While I knew that my open letter to President Biden had the potential…

Holy Holy Holy Grieving the Religion I Lost Grief arrived today, wrapped up in the words of a song that I hadn’t heard in years. A song that at one time in my life, I played during prayer time. If I was dealing with a tense situation or just needed a reminder that “all things worked…

Keeping God in a Box Discovering the Holy in Our Daily Lives If you had told me that four years after seminary I would be creating an online ministry to help people heal from religious trauma and explore a spiritual but not religious path, I’m not sure I would have believed you. I knew I…

They Fear Your Strength I shouldn’t be surprised, but yet somehow I was hopeful for a different reaction. The Christian’s response to anyone leaving church is to hurl phrases dripping with fear and manipulation in an attempt to control them. From the outside looking in, it’s a power move of cowards. Anyone who uses fear…

When Leaving Your Faith Feels Like Leaving a Toxic Relationship Why the spiritual but not religious movement is growing There was a time in my life when I would have despised the person I am now. That sentence was hard to write because packed in those words is a lifetime of living as a judgmental,…

The Wisdom of the Ages Honoring Your Heritage on Your Spiritual Journey 23 and Me, the test kit that assesses your DNA for your ancestral heritage, became even more popular during the pandemic. The company announced that they grew in the 1st quarter of 2021, due largely to the lockdowns that kept people home and…