Stories from the ‘Sandwich Generation’

About a quarter of US adults are part of the “sandwich generation,” according to Pew Research data, defined as those who “have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising at least one child younger than 18 or providing financial support to an adult child.” On a daily basis, many of these adults confront the vulnerabilities of the beginning and end of life alike, feeding and bathing and soothing both the young and the old.

Perhaps it’s no wonder, then, that many readers appreciated Jen Wilkin’s essay “At My Mother’s Deathbed, I Discovered the Symmetry of a Long Life,” calling it “thoughtful” and “beautifully expressed.” The Bible scholar reflected on accompanying her mother through her final days and the symmetry of a human life, from dependence to caregiving and back again.

Claire Jerry in Washington, DC, wrote in response, “I was privileged to be with my mother, mother-in-law, and father-in-law in their final days. As I try to discern my purpose in what are surely the last years of my own life, I cherish a verse that echoed through this article: ‘like a tree … that bringeth forth its fruit in its season’ (Ps. 1:3, ASV). It comforts and challenges me to realize there is still fruit to be borne, even in this season.” Another reader, Angela Langer-Heltzel of Joplin, Missouri, read the essay after her mother’s passing. “Being in the same stage of life” as Wilkin, she said, “I found comfort in her words and even more comfort in the Lord’s design.”

Kate Lucky, senior editor, engagement and culture

The False Gospel of Our Inner Critic

This Enneagram One is listening … definitely understand “the inner critic.”

@simplykristylynn (Instagram)

The Bestseller that Made Church Cool—and Optional

I was one of those intrigued by the edginess and grittiness of Donald Miller’s book. But as Ashley Hales rightly points out, the alternative offered was really no alternative at all. It’s also important to note that the emergent church movement never really went away. It just morphed into today’s progressive Christianity led by such figures as Peter Enns, Richard Rohr, and Brad Jersak.

John Appleton, West Chicago, IL

I have seen the corruption of believers who turned away from everything that was church to a Christless spirituality. I reject mysticism; I recognize the gospel is a mystery, not receivable by the natural mind. We rely on the Spirit of revelation to reveal Christ in and through us. So while I have learned not to condemn, Miller’s encouragement of his contemporaries does not bode well.

Mark Sankey, Frederick, MD

This is a good article, very much on target. I’m really surprised, though, that the author said that as early as 2003, “Gone were the lights, smoke machines, and conservative politics of megachurch practice”—because those things are still very prominent in the world I inhabit today in 2025. Most churches where I live are either dying traditional churches (with hymns and organs) or growing contemporary churches that are megachurches or want to be, and they still use lights, contemporary music, and sometimes even smoke machines. And they are conservative. Blue Like Jazz introduced emergent Christianity to a wide audience. It’s like that movement was trying to make irreverence cool among bored or disaffected evangelicals. A lot of emergent Christianity has left evangelicalism altogether to become today’s progressive Christianity.

Morgan Trotter (Facebook)

I think those who continue to absolve themselves of the church are more a sign of something happening than a symptom of reading the book. I was very frustrated with Miller for the way he later denied the church, but I am still grateful for the book and think he deserves more credit for encouraging lifelong believers than the article revealed. I don’t agree with your conclusion. I 100 percent get why you landed there, though. In the end, Blue Like Jazz helped many of us to separate unhealthy church habits from the church.

Dale Huntington, San Diego, CA

You have to keep in mind that Blue Like Jazz was a memoir. [Miller] wasn’t intentionally trying to offer a solution, but his state of mind and experiences resonated with many. It changed my outlook, which I’ve applied to what I focus on (authenticity, real acts of service, etc.) while still traditionally filling a pew each Sunday.

Jared Throneberry (Facebook)

Living Like a Monk in the Age of Fast Living

Amen to Evan B. Howard’s article on monasticism. Fundamentalism assumes that the most important judgments in life are between good and evil. Monasticism reveals that the most important decisions are between attention and distraction. Paul said he could eat meat offered to idols and it wouldn’t be sin; but if eating meat pulled his brother back into ancestral idolatry, he wouldn’t eat meat (1 Cor. 8). When Christians shape their response to modernity and technology in such a way that the weak brother won’t be pulled back into pornography, we’ll know we have matured from and not just reacted to fundamentalism.

Anthony Hess, Wilder, ID

How NYC Churches Guard Endangered Languages

I have a friend who is from southern Mexico and speaks a pre-Hispanic language called Chinantec. She told me that her tiny church in her village back home was started by American missionaries who translated the entire Bible into their native language, thus preserving the language in writing. I am proud to have such a heritage as a Christian!

@emma.jane.craig (Instagram)