Joyce Hollyday is a co-founder and co-pastor of Circle of Mercy, an ecumenical congregation in Asheville, North Carolina. Her most recent book, Pillar of Fire, is a historical novel that celebrates the extraordinary witness of the medieval mystics known as Beguines. She is the author of other several books, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us and Then Shall Your Light Rise: Spiritual Formation and Social Witness. She was a founding member of Witness for Peace, a grassroots organization committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. She was formerly the Associate Editor for Sojourners.
Posts By This Author
Getting Burned At The Double-R Ranch
The weather could only be described as scorching that day at the Double-R Ranch.
Smile And Say 'Cheese'
It was just past sunrise when the car radio said, "Cheese will be given out to any person who can prove need at twelve locations throughout the city."
Commonplace Courage
Washington was blanketed in snow that day, three inches on the ground and more falling fast as I walked to the magazine office about noon.
Just Where Is The ERA?
In October of 1978, Congress voted to extend the seven-year time limit it had imposed for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) by another three years and three months, to June 30,1982.
One Of Those Rare Treasures
Only one day in the month of a monthly magazine is more frenzied, more demanding than the day before deadline, and that is the day that follows. Neither is a day to be gone from the office.
The Grandest Of Bellicose Errors
At the end of last year, an avalanche of virulence toward Nicaragua and Cuba rumbled out of the Reagan administration, with Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Jr. as chief mouthpiece.
Vulnerability And Violence
Following our arrest for a witness against nuclear weapons in September, several other women and I spent the night being shuttled by paddy wagon from police precinct to central cell block to the D.C. jail
Guatemala: Bird of Peace, Burden of Pain
Through Guatemala's tropical lowlands flies a brilliant green and red bird with flowing tail feathers.
Smudged Papers And Fudged Facts
When young children do it to their parents, we reprimand them. When teenagers do it, we start to worry about their futures.
Walking Through Death Valley Days
Machismo is back in style. It never really left us, of course. But it has made a furious comeback like a dauntless cowboy out of an old western.
Off The Record
The wonderful world of Washington has been hurling rocks of assorted varieties through the windows of our minds these days.
El Salvador, 'The Savior'
In the early '60s, many people became involved in demonstrations for disarmament.
Murderous Stability
The news cut into my Thanksgiving Day and left a sharp pang, reminding me of the continuing crisis that is El Salvador.
To Give To Light
In a Guatemalan parish, four men were seized and hung up on a wall of the church.
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Poustinia
"I just don't have space in my life for prayer." How many times I have heard these words.
The Keen, Keen Glass of Home
Summer burst upon the neighborhood like the first firecracker to come spiraling to the sidewalk from the hands of a local mischief.