Welcome to Blest Be the Tie! I’m Joann White, a writer, pastor, spiritual director, and enthusiast of wild places.
I’ve been writing for most of my life. My fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Carter read my first efforts at poetry and accused me of copying. In the sixth grade, I won a Young Author award for my mystery The Churchyard Phantom, the story of a girl detective who cracks a diamond smuggling ring run out of the local church. I have kept a journal for most of my adult life as a tool for reflection, prayer, and spiritual growth. For the past two decades, much of my writing has been for the church: sermons, newsletter articles, prayers, reports, and the weekly Blast. At some point, I figured out that writing is one of the things that God put me on earth to do, and I’ve tried to use my gift to honor and serve the Lord ever since.
Perhaps this little introduction about how I am using my gifts to grow as a public theologian, author, and servant of the Kingdom of God has got you thinking about your gifts. How is Jesus calling you to use your abilities to reach out and bless the world?
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.”
—Habakuk 2:2-3
In the Midst of Chaos
Sabbath Day Thoughts — “In the Midst of Chaos” Matthew 24:1-14 Our world is feeling especially chaotic these days. It’s been a week since the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran. The images have been alarming: Tehran’s Mehrabad airport on fire, plumes of black smoke rising from the city, rescuers digging through…
Truth to Power
Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Truth to Power” Mark 12:1-12 Rachel spoke truth to power. For her senior year at Evergreen State College, Rachel proposed a special independent study. She would travel to Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement. There, she would live in community with Palestinian families, initiate a “sister city” project between Olympia and…
A Hopeful Beginning
Sabbath Day Thoughts — “A Hopeful Beginning” Luke 19:28-40 On Ash Wednesday, more than 300 prominent Christian leaders, including Presbyterians, released “A Call to Christians in a Crisis of Faith and Democracy.” It’s a boldly worded statement that characterizes this moment in history as a time of spiritual crisis in which we must affirm what…
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Joann White 