GOD Archives - Page 9 of 12 - Ellen Morris Prewitt

How to Fail at the Race Talk

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 2, 2016. Posted in General, GOD, HOMELESSNESS, LOVE, RACISM. 4 Comments

I failed at the conference for racial justice this weekend. I gave racially tinged advice to a perfectly innocent question that had no race element to it. I mistook one African-American woman with glasses and short hair for a different African-American woman with glasses and short hair, because all African-Americans look alike to us white folks. Multiple...

A 4th Moment in Mississippi

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 3, 2016. Posted in GOD, RACISM. 10 Comments

In the assemble hall at Power Elementary School once a week we’d gather for sing-alongs. Our wooden chairs had squeaky black-hinged seats that flipped up when not in use. Sit too far back and, if you were a skinny, skinny child like me, the seats flipped up when in use as well. In this cavernous space with its regimented rows, I’d belt out while...

Thank You for the Soul

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 25, 2016. Posted in GOD, HOMELESSNESS, LOVE. 2 Comments

When the dark night of the soul overtakes me and I can’t sleep for wondering how on earth I could’ve so terribly wasted this wonderful life I’ve been given, I sneak down the stairs, carefully feeling with my toe for the edge of each step so I don’t stumble. Patting the door jamb, I close the door behind me and turn on...

Trusting in Life

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 23, 2016. Posted in General, GOD. Leave a Comment

The retreat had not yet begun. I was walking beneath the live oaks, crossing from the dorm room I would share with my cousin and aunt to the building where we would practice restorative yoga for two days. The gulf breeze gently blew, and shadows danced on the St. Augustine lawn. I halted, gazing at the slip of blue sky peeking through the mossy...

Spiritual Bottleneck

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 10, 2016. Posted in GOD, HOMELESSNESS. 10 Comments

Early Wednesday morning, the man who’d spent the night on the streets walked the hallway at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral. He stopped at my table, lingering. He did not look happy. I think of this church hallway as the “neck” between Sister’s Chapel, where we hold the church service attended mostly by those living on the streets, and Martyrs...

Prayer, A Rule of Thumb

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 9, 2016. Posted in General, GOD, HOMELESSNESS. 2 Comments

A while back, I conducted a workshop where I took my writing mentor Rebecca McClanahan‘s book Write Your Heart Out and translated the types of nonfiction writing into types of prayer. I don’t remember all the parallels (writing from joy, for example, became adoration or praise prayer.) I’ve been thinking about this as I make...

June: Not a Sentimental Person

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 2, 2016. Posted in General, GOD, HOMELESSNESS, Writing. 12 Comments

Many years ago, when I was letting the Spirit lead me around by the nose, I went to Door of Hope and asked if I could start a writing group for men and women living on the street. Dr. June Mann Averyt, the founder and then Executive Director of Door of Hope, watched me toddle through the door in my high heels and said, “What the hell—go...

Spiritual Dyslexia and Central Command

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 30, 2016. Posted in GOD, Writing. 9 Comments

I call it “spiritual dyslexia.” When I was teaching myself to write, if an offering really, really did not appeal to me, I reluctantly signed up. That’s how I discovered literary journalism—literary journalism? I gasped when I read the syllabus Randall Kenan was teaching that year. It sounded terrible, but Randall was teaching it...

Why Christianity as We Know It Won’t Survive: An Easter Saturday Reflection

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on March 26, 2016. Posted in GOD. 4 Comments

Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ, and in American Christianity today we debate whether women should be allowed to be in the forefront of the church. Mary the Mother of God took the radical, courageous step of agreeing to birth the Messiah, and the most dominant adjective used by the Christian church today to describe her is...

New Baby on Website

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on March 17, 2016. Posted in GOD, Writing. 4 Comments

We have a new baby on the website. You can read it here. The story is from The Bone Trench, the novel my agent with the Virginia Kidd Agency is currently presenting to publishing houses. The excerpt appeared in EAP:The Magazine, the full name of which is Exterminating Angel Press (isn’t that fabulous?). Hope you enjoy!!!