Jen Rose Yokel is a poet, freelance writer, and spiritual director. Her words have appeared at She Reads Truth, CCM Magazine, and other publications, and she released her first poetry collection Ruins & Kingdoms in 2015. Originally from Central Florida, she now makes her home in Fall River, Massachusetts with her husband Chris, where you can find her enjoying used bookstores and good coffee.
Living the Questions: ‘A Curious Faith’ review
When I started training to become a spiritual director, I was relieved to learn very quickly that our job isn’t about giving directions, fixing problems, or doling out wisdom like some sort of Jesus Yoda.
Read More ›Requiem for 2020: An Interview with Rachel Wilhelm
I’m writing this from a sunlit cafe in Providence, where the daffodils and forsythia are finally blooming and everything feels right in the world. Sure, I’ve got a mask on my face to remind me that we aren’t entirely done with this pandemic yet, but somehow this particular spring almost feels like waking up after a long, exhausting year. And yet, for so many, the losses big and small remain. The ruins of the past year are still being sorted, named, grieved.
Read More ›Between Breezewood and Narnia: Introducing Zane Vickery
Sometimes, a piece of art emerges out of nowhere and catches you by surprise. For some of us, indie artist Zane Vickery’s debut Breezewood is that kind of record. Built on sweeping piano-pop melodies, heartfelt songwriting, and a deep love for stories (particularly Narnia in this case), these songs feel like the first hints of springtime in the dead of winter, an earnest wrestling with the broken pieces of the past and a longing hope for the future.
Read More ›Songs for the Wait: An Interview with Caroline Cobb
As a hard, strange year draws to a close, the season of Advent feels so timely and necessary. We enter the long, dark nights of winter, and even as we look forward to Christmas, there’s still the unshakeable sense that it’s going to be so different this year, our joy marked by grief for traditions put aside, canceled travel plans, absent loved ones, and the heavy toll of every loss and grief. For this reason, I’m thankful for Caroline Cobb’s new album, A Seed, A Sunrise.
Read More ›Stories of Grief Redeemed: An Interview with Janna Barber
We like to say around here that “community nourishes art,” and there is no joy like watching a piece of art grow from the seeds of friendship into a finished work. We’re excited to let you know our friend and contributor Janna Barber is about to release her debut memoir Hidden in Shadow. I met Janna at Hutchmoot 2011, and over the years have found in her a kindred writer spirit, someone who desires to grow in her craft and offer hope through her words.
Read More ›Permission Notes for a Pandemic
I’ve wanted to write for weeks, to speak something hopeful and life-giving into the world’s collective anxiety. But the words feel stuck, dried up. They come flickering in the middle of the night or while I wash dishes, only to evaporate in the cold light of my computer screen.
Read More ›Healing with Our Hands: A Review of Handle with Care
I wouldn’t exactly describe myself as a touchy-feely person. If you give me a 5 Love Languages test, physical affection just barely sneaks into the number three spot. I know I carry internalized messages for how to touch other people, from determining side hugs versus regular hugs to how many seats to leave between myself and strangers on public transportation. Marriage has done a lot to shrink my personal bubble, but if I’m honest, I haven’t always considered how meaningful touch can be when we avoid brushing against each other in a crowded world.
Read More ›More Than My Lonely Nation
The year was 2005. I was a junior in college, and it felt like the world was both beckoning me to a wide open future and coming apart at the seams.
Read More ›Introducing Jason Gregori
Sometimes you find great music, and sometimes it finds you. One day, I got an Instagram message from someone I’d never met, asking for some thoughts on her husband’s new independent worship album. A few messages exchanged, and she sent me a link to listen to it.
Read More ›The Poetry Pub Presents Our First Community Chapbook
It started with an open mic and a semicircle of chairs in a church classroom in Nashville, TN.
Read More ›New Music from The Corner Room
If you’re looking for some new music for the Easter season, our friends at The Corner Room have a new album out this month! Following the tradition of their Psalms records and Love Never Ends, With His Wounds We Are Healed is a musical interpretation of Isaiah 53, told in five elegantly arranged movements.
Read More ›Reading The Color of Compromise Together
Lent is a season for looking inward, for seeking repentance for the things we’ve “done and left undone,” as the liturgies say. This Lent, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the “things undone” part.