Mary Reynolds Hemmer, Prayerful Kitchen

Not Full of Christmas Cheer

My first year working for a large church in Arlington, Virginia, my husband and I ate Christmas lunch off the rollers at a 7-Eleven. Tradition dictated that the newest priest on staff lead the Christmas morning service and I had started working at the church that November. My first Christmas celebrated outside of my home…

Grandpa’s Jars

A midweek fiction offering for you. I wrote this to share at this year’s Soil and Water Conservation District Christmas party. I value my family’s ability to live close to the land and honor its many gifts. As you consider your many blessings at the close of the year, lift a prayer of gratitude and…

Learning Not to Forgive My Younger Self

I would go back and do things differently. If I could advise my younger self, I would tell her to avoid some things or choose a different path. My younger self didn’t know any better. We should be gracious with our younger selves and forgive them their bad or impetuous decisions. I’m working on forgiving…

#NotThatMom

“Do you have the right shapewear for this one?” “Oh! I’ve always loved Spanx but did you hear about Skims by Kim Kardashian? I just bought my first body suit from her and I love it! You should try it.” “Honey, if you choose this one, we’ll have to find a new pushup bra for…

Giving Thanks for the Discomfort

I feel obliged to write something for this weekend about gratitude with yesterday being Thanksgiving and all. We’re coming off a challenging year as a family. My husband and I divorced, he moved next door, and we’re learning to co-parent while discovering how family can evolve into something different. I feel we’ve navigated this well,…

The Stories We Tell

Each of us is a storyteller. Inside of us stories swirl in a stew of past and present, bumping into one another, forming and reforming. Favorites stay at the surface, evolving only slightly due to the number of times we share them. Our neural pathways somehow hold this collection of regulars together, finding consistent and…

The First Year

Christian communities who follow the church calendar celebrated All Saints Sunday on November 5. On that day they remember loved ones who have died in the past year, sometimes by name during the service, and give thanks for all of the saints who have gone before us. We also step into a series of Sundays…

For the Sport of It

Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number, creatures both small and great. There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, which you have made for the sport of it. – Psalm 104:26-27 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer Translation How many times when my kids asked…

Without Being Angry

I have no pithy or poignant start to this reflection. I tried to manufacture one but they all felt empty and forced. How to begin an essay that lets the world know I’ve gotten a divorce? No matter how I begin, once “divorce” appears on the screen, there won’t be attention for much else. Among…

Facing Down Flying Fears

I sit on a plane for the first time in 17 years. I last flew to my brother’s second wedding on Sea Island, GA. We lived in Arlington, VA at the time where I served a large church as their Associate Rector for Youth and Young Adults. Within a year, my boss added “Families with…