Jessica Bratt

Good morning, readers and friends, and welcome to Advent. Today marks my last post as a regular writer for The Twelve; perhaps I’ll be back as a guest now and then but I’m ready to give my spot over to…

I knew adult coloring books were becoming popular, but it wasn’t until I watched someone happily coloring in one during a conference about six months ago that I became curious enough to try it myself. So for several months now I’ve…

This fall, Trinity Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan is studying and discussing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). I contributed a reflection on the fruit of patience, and wanted to share a version of it here as well.…

Just after Pope Francis arrived at the Philadelphia airport last month, he stopped his driver on the tarmac and made his way over to a wheelchair-bound child he’d noticed. He leaned over and blessed the boy. Then the moment was…

A week ago Sunday night I sat on the front porch and watched the moon as it rose, full and bright. Clouds came and went but when the sky was clear I could see the progression of the lunar eclipse.…

“A long thread of tragedy is woven through the story of the puffy white substance that clothes us all.” That’s the closing line of the New York Times’ book review of historian Sven Beckert’s new book Empire of Cotton. I…

Happy Labor Day. I hope for at least some of you it is indeed a rest from labor. It has me thinking about the evolving nature of work in America, and our complicated relationship to it. A recent news story…

As a general fan of sarcasm and satire, I thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Colbert’s shenanigans on the Colbert Report. Now, as only two weeks remain before his debut as the new host of the Late Show, I join many others in…

Well, hello again. I’m back after a three month hiatus from The Twelve. Many thanks to those who have been writing in my absence! I wish I could refer to the past 3 months as a sabbatical, but that would…

Below, I want to share with you the homily I offered at my grandmother’s memorial service, six months ago now, just shy of her 94th birthday. Several things prompt this in me today. I think of those who mourn in…