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Holy Shenanigans
Holy Shenanigans shares stories that surprise, encourage, and sometimes even turn life upside down – all in the name of love. Your muse is Tara Lamont Eastman, pastor, podcaster and practitioner of Holy Shenanigans . Join her on a journey of unforgettable spiritual adventure that is always sacred but never stuffy.
Holy Shenanigans
Mercy is the Message with Eady Jay
Tara and author, pianist & activist EDJ consider the power of mercy in a conversation about deconstruction from fundamentalist conservative evangelical religion, embracing feminism, breaking free from purity culture and learning how forgiveness can flip tables of harm and bring unexpected healing in a Evangelical Deconstruction Journey.
EDJ's Facebook account
EDJ's Instagram account
EDJ"s TikTok
EDJ / Eady Jay loves to write about spirituality, sexuality, family, health and music. She has a degree in Christian Theology, 30ish years of senseless celibacy under her belt (wink), personal experience in weight-loss of 65 pounds, and years of professional experience building a business as a piano teacher. She is also a loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife and parent who cared for her terminally ill mother and is raising a child born with a cleft lip and palate.
Over the years she has deconstructed the concept of hell leading her down the path of universalism. Then she deconstructed purity culture and many of the “isms” and became a queer-affirming, feminist. She is still on an Evangelical Deconstruction Journey (EDJ), reforming ethics rooted and established in the God who is love, grace and truth personified.
EDJ is this writer’s initials and an acronym for Evangelical Deconstruction Journey. Eady Jay is a pseudonym derived from the initials EDJ.
Poem of the Week:
What if?
Sometimes my mind spends most of the time replaying, creating and taunting with ideas that worry, ideas that cause scurry, ideas that wander and whine.
Instead of thinking on what isn't sinking.
Instead of pondering what is fine.
Instead of focusing on what is present,
what is pleasant and what is kind.
Sometimes my mind likes to wander to places that are dark and cold.
Taking me to places with unfriendly faces.
The places where defense is gold.
Instead of thinking, on what is today.
Instead of cherishing what I hold.
Instead of drawing attention to beauty,
to what is sweet and bold.
Sometimes I think I need to stop, and think of things that matter, that last beyond the temporal soil.
Sometimes, I know I need to want, what I have,
Not what I think, should be my goal.
Instead of focusing on wants and what ifs.
Instead of reaching to remotes.
What if I looked at what I have,
what I possess, and present a treasure to untold?
Copyright T.L. Eastman 2007
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman is an Ordained Minister of Word & Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She has pastored ELCA and PCUSA churches throughout New York State. She was a contributing writer to the Collaborate Lutheran Student Bible and the Connect Sunday School curriculum, published by Sparkhouse.
