Rev. Emily C. Heath

Holy Week is, as suggested, the holiest week of the Christian year. It's also the busiest. The week starts on Palm Sunday with the commemoration of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It continues on Maundy Thursday with a retelling of the story of the Last Supper, and Jesus' betrayal by...

The other day I stepped onto my driveway and my duck boot sunk down in mud deeper than my ankle. I knew it was the start of mud season here in Vermont, that mythical fifth season between winter and spring when mud covers everything. Our dirt roads turn to mud,...

"I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state are absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. ... To say that people of...

Please join the HuffPost community in "A Lenten Journey" for reflections throughout Lent, and join our online Lenten community here.

This is the time of year when people start to talk to me about what they're giving up for Lent. With Ash Wednesday today, many were...

Early on a Saturday morning in Feb. of 1997 the phone rang in my dorm room at Emory University. When I took the phone my mother asked in a panicked voice whether I had been at the gay bar that had just been bombed.

The day before Eric Rudolph had...

When I was about eight years old my mother explained holiday greetings to me. It was simple. If someone is Christian, say "Merry Christmas". If someone is Jewish, "Happy Hanukkah" is appropriate. And if you don't know, "Happy Holidays" or "Happy New Year" always work.

For my mom it wasn't...

When news of Jerry Sandusky's indictment came down I learned for the first time that the name of the charity he had founded to help boys and young men in need of support, the same one he allegedly used to find his victims, was the Second Mile. I was immediately...

Last Wednesday night I sat around a table with a group of mostly younger adults. We meet each week for my churches' "Faith on Tap" program, a spirituality discussion group held at a local pub. We were talking about a new advertising campaign that our denomination, the United Church of...

Last Saturday night I phoned the leaders of the two churches I pastor here in southern Vermont. I grew up in central Florida, and it felt bizarre to be considering calling off worship services for the first time in my pastorate for a hurricane. Who expects a hurricane in Vermont?...