Archives | the post calvin

The Single Talk

by Courtney Zonnefeld | Jun 15, 2022 | Placeless

If we are not committed to friendship, if we do not grieve and fight and ask questions alongside them, then we are the church but hardly a community.

Grace for the Gray

by Olivia Harre | Jun 13, 2022 | Placeless

I placed sex firmly in the “bad” category, to be retrieved only after I walked down an elusive aisle to a man I probably wouldn’t meet for at least a decade.

What Does the HSR Mean by “Confessional”?

by Klaas Walhout | Jun 12, 2022 | Placeless

When it comes to a moment like the one in which the CRC finds itself, semantics matter.

Take Me to Church

by Lauren Cole | Jun 11, 2022 | Placeless

So many artists reach for religious imagery to explain the height of their experience with a beloved.

When Your Vagina Doesn’t Work

by Gwyneth Findlay | Jun 9, 2022 | Placeless

I often wonder what would’ve happened if I’d had that wedding night, one weighed down by the expectations of a brand of purity culture that left little room for alternatives to PIV sex.

Theology Needs More Sex Scenes

by Josh Parks | Jun 8, 2022 | Placeless

Sex was evil until it was not, and then it was amazing even when it wasn’t.

The Cost of Purity Rhetoric

by Susannah Boersma | Jun 7, 2022 | Michigan

My obsession with that unattainable purity led me to fear the only vessel I was given to experience this world.

Leaving Room for Jesus

by Alex Johnson | Jun 5, 2022 | Placeless

Don’t you want it so so bad? Aren’t you willing to do the right things so you get to have it? Isn’t not having sex awful?

This Body of Work

by Comfort Sampong | Jun 4, 2022 | Placeless

Regardless of how much I studied, read, and prayed, I would never be permitted to preach in front of a congregation.

A Fullness of Human Life

by Ansley Kelly | Jun 3, 2022 | Placeless

While my purpose wasn’t the conversion of my coworker, I like that she might think about God’s interest in her life when she walks past the bananas.

The Trouble with Wanting

by Christina Ribbens | Jun 2, 2022 | Placeless

If I’m miserable that means I must be doing something right.

Call for Audition Submissions

by Alex Johnson | May 31, 2022 | Placeless

Are you interested in joining the post calvin community? We have a few openings for new writers beginning this August, and we’d love for you to audition!

Building a Home From Pieces of Poetry

by Mimi Mutesa | May 30, 2022 | Ireland, Uganda

That’s what my favorite aspect of this journey has been: The choice to be vulnerable with someone else about your experiences and fears and dreams, when you have every option not to.

Songs for the Rain

by Jon Gorter | May 28, 2022 | Georgia, Grand Rapids

Rainy days have always felt exceedingly genuine.

Hunger

by Anna Jeffries | May 27, 2022 | Placeless

Maybe he just wasn’t hungry enough. Maybe I am too hungry.

Legacy America

by Annaka Koster | May 26, 2022 | Connecticut, Michigan, New York

I remember thinking, with all the considerable certainty that a fifteen-year-old can muster, that if this doesn’t change us, nothing will.

Inches in Ireland

by Natasha (Strydhorst) Unsworth | May 25, 2022 | Ireland

We stood at the summit of the 8,424-inch-tall Cliffs of Moher for an interminable stretch, taking in the majesty of lush green pasture giving sudden way to jagged, vertical, bird-nest-spotted stone yielding in turn to frothing, unabating ocean.

Our Alma Mater and the Year of the Event

by Joshua Polanski | May 24, 2022 | Grand Rapids

The Event creates a new subject, a new person.

“Do You Have a Disability?”

by Mitchell Barbee | May 23, 2022 | Placeless

If you’ve only seen my face in the square photo below this post, you probably don’t know I have ectrodactyly.

An Ode to Norm’s

by Kayleigh (Fongers) Van Wyk | May 22, 2022 | Fruitport

From birthdays to holidays to regular weekend trips, Norm’s has been a staple of happy summer moments.

Vampire Taught Me How to Write About Pain

by Emily Joy Stroble | May 21, 2022 | Placeless

It will sneak up on you, young writer, the temptation to use the power of your words in monstrous, bloody ways.

History, What Is It Good For?

by Chad Westra | May 20, 2022 | Washington

I’ve heard it said that historians are the “mules of academia.”

“Top of the Morning” and Other Fake Goodbyes

by Lillie Spackman | May 19, 2022 | New York

Which emails and conversations am I signing off “top of the morning” and which are a definitive “see ya never, loser”?

Even So

by Ben DeVries | May 18, 2022 | Placeless

What does it mean to try to persuade when you don’t think you can?

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Polaroid

by Laura Sheppard Song | May 17, 2022 | Placeless

Snail mail and physical photos seemed nearly archaic compared to the methods I already used to keep in touch with those I missed.

You Will Get Pregnant and Die

by Katie Van Zanen | May 16, 2022 | Placeless

The older I get, the more I watch women around me trying desperately to get pregnant, after being told for years that “it only takes one time,” that it would ruin you.