Posts by Category: Editor’s Views

By Jessica Brodie. One of the best things about being a mom is the chance to see the world through the unique and innocent eyes of my children. It’s amazing to me how they view the world, whether it’s the simple beauties of nature to how our nation dialogues about politics. And one of the most rewarding of these fresh perspectives has been the way I have come to look at friendship—courtesy of my 9-year-old daughter, Avery.

Advocate Editor Jessica Brodie announces the newspaper will continue another 10 months with something that has been one of her personal favorite projects since she became editor six-and-a-half years ago: the South Carolina Stories of Racial Awakening Project.

Our family lost the best dog in the world yesterday afternoon, the day before the Advocate went to press, and we never saw it coming. And as I muddle through grief, I’m left with one key thought that won’t let me go: Treasure what you have while you have it, because life is painfully, tragically short, and those you love can be gone before you can even say goodbye. By Jessica Brodie.

A column by Advocate Editor Jessica Brodie on seeking God in the midst of our devastation and pain.

By Jessica Brodie. It doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been out of school—I still celebrate back-to-school season. There’s something about the freshly gleaming pads of paper and neat little boxes of pencils at Target stacked carefully next to rows of neon-colored highlighters and binders that make my heart go pitter-patter.

We need to remember that the most important thing about our faith is who we follow: Christ. An editorial by Jessica Brodie.

By Jessica Brodie (Read full coverage of General Conference—click here) I sat there in the General Conference press room May 17 watching new Council of Bishops President Bruce Ough take…

By Jessica Brodie. This month, The United Methodist Church is gearing up for its quadrennial family reunion: General Conference. Yes, “family reunion” was my takeaway from the 2012 General Conference, when this editor stood…

By Jessica Brodie. The forced solitude and inherent meditation opportunity in my morning commute has become my favorite time of the day to pray. Lulled into a happy, contemplative place by the hum of the car and the beauty of the coming day spread out in a panorama all around me, it’s a special, peaceful time I cherish and a great way to start the day.

By Jessica Brodie. I’m deeply excited to share with you a bold new effort the Advocate is unfurling thanks to the vision of an anonymous donor and the passion this newspaper has for racial awareness and reconciliation: the South Carolina Stories of Racial Awakening Project.

By Jessica Brodie. Storyteller. After five days in Portland, Oregon, site of the upcoming 2016 General Conference, where I sat elbow-to-elbow with fellow United Methodist communicators learning about how better to do our work for God’s Kingdom, that’s the word I keep coming back to…

By Jessica Brodie. God’s call is a tremendous influence on our lives. His call led Moses into the wilderness, led Jonah from the belly of a whale back to Nineveh, led three magi—after seeing the baby Jesus—to go home by another route and not to report back to King Herod.

By Jessica Brodie. There’s little I love more than looking around during worship and seeing diversity. I love it all—different accents, different shades of skin, different ages, different genders, different styles of clothing. It energizes me in a way I can hardly describe.

By Jessica Brodie. I’ve been reading a lot in secular media about how we—particularly women—need to stop apologizing for everything. Apparently, our inherent gut reaction to murmur “I’m sorry” when things go awry sends the wrong message to people.

By Jessica Brodie. Since our last edition, it’s been a whirlwind for people of faith in South Carolina, from the shooting of nine people during Bible study at Mother Emanuel in Charleston, to sweeping landmark Supreme Court cases legalizing gay marriage and upholding the Affordable Care Act, to the removal of a painful symbol of racism (or Southern pride) from the South Carolina State House grounds.