Rev. Ruth D. Fitzgerald served in parish ministry for nine years before being called into conference ministry as Area Minister for the Grand West Association in Michigan. She retired in 2023 from that position. Ruth served on the community board for Pilgrim Manor, then a United Church Homes community, and has been an active board member for the Fountain Hill Center for Counseling and Care, and Ele's Place--West Michigan (a healing center for grieving children and teens) all in Grand Rapids. Ruth has two grown children and three precious grandchildren. Travel, hiking, knitting, and reading fill her “spare” time.
Beth Long-Higgins began this series by contrasting the ways members of her family expressed their citizenship and reminded us that, even in their differences, they held..
The dictionary defines “technology” like this:
Frederick Buechner died this week. If I correspond with you in matters not related to my job, you’ll see that part of my “personal” signature is a quote from him...
In 2008 I traveled to the border lands between Arizona and Mexico. This was a trip required for my graduation from seminary; an “intercultural immersion” experience...
When I was young, I knew most of the nooks and crannies of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Our family attended a large, downtown church and sometimes on Sunday afternoons..
Life Hymn-list One of the blessings of this pandemic time has been the regular schedule of meetings with the “circle” of folks who participate in writing this blog. We..
Illuminating books. We can read that phrase a couple of different ways. Are books, by their contents illuminating? Do they shed new understanding on life’s experiences..
When I entered seminary as a 45-year-old adult, I learned a new phrase: “Already, and not yet.” There are many ways that seminarians parse this phrase, but for me, it is..
