hodgepodge – Gayle Tabor

Trust In News Has Gone Up

2026/10/02 Gayle 0

I read an interesting piece from AllSides this morning. One reason I like AllSides is right there in the name: they make a genuine effort to show us how the same story is being covered from the left, center, and right. So the story is that, for the first time in almost a decade, Americans’ trust in the news media has gone up. That’s encouraging — sort of. Because only 33% of Americans say they trust the news media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. That’s up from 28% last year, but one-third of the country trusting journalism isn’t exactly a victory lap. What I found particularly interesting is who changed. • Republican trust jumped from 8% to 22%. • Independents moved to The rest of the story

THE DESERT IS BLOOMING

2026/10/02 Gayle 0

I woke up this morning still thinking about our conversation at SALT United Methodist last night. I love that we do conversation church and how the conversation feeds me. Anyway, Last night we talked about the hope of creation – about what it means to believe that God is still at work bringing life, healing, and renewal, even in the insanity of the world around us, even in all that is broken. Then, over my morning coffee, I came across this story from AP. THE DESERT IS BLOOMING! Not just any desert. The Atacama Desert in Chile – the driest nonpolar desert on Earth – is suddenly covered with millions of wildflowers! And here’s the part that got me: some of those seeds and bulbs The rest of the story

There’s always next year.

2026/10/01 Gayle 0

“There’s always next year.” For most baseball fans, that’s a consolation. For a Chicago Cubs fan, it’s practically part of the liturgy. For more than a century, generations of Cubs fans said those words at the end of another season: wait until next year. Keep believing. Come back in the spring. Then 2016 happened. For one glorious season, next year became this year. And those of us who waited our whole lives for it will never forget what that felt like. Which, unfortunately, did not permanently exempt us from Cubs heartbreak. So here we are again. I really believed in this 2026 team. I yelled at them. I questioned their life choices. I stayed up ridiculously late on the East Coast. And now our season The rest of the story

Consent at any Age

2026/09/30 Gayle 0

Over the weekend, I packed up the LEGO bricks from Lego Club Carolina Beach. 😭😭😭 It was a ministry I absolutely loved and did for more than 11 years. Packing up all those bricks, and all those memories, was extremely bittersweet. As Jenn and I were packing, I noticed the LEGO Club rules were still written on the chalkboard, even though we haven’t met in that room since the spring of 2025. One particularly caugh my attention given recent events: Ask permission before taking a LEGO from someone else. And if they say no, accept the no. And suddenly, that rule felt much bigger than LEGOs. We were teaching consent! Those kids learned that they were allowed to say no. Even when the person asking The rest of the story

2026/06/20 Gayle 0

I’ve had a couple of discussions lately about what we call God. So this morning, I decided to put pen to paper, more accurately fingers to keyboard, and offer some thoughts on why I Avoid Masculine Pronouns for God and Rarely Call God “Father” I’m deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. I fully recognize that Scripture contains many references to God as Father. Yet I intentionally avoid using masculine pronouns for God and rarely address God as “Father.” This choice is not a rejection of Christianity, nor is it an attempt to erase biblical language. Rather, it arises from a conviction that God transcends human gender and that no single image or metaphor should be mistaken for the fullness of the divine mystery. I grew The rest of the story

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