Lynne Jonell Kratoska, Children’s Author

At St. Philip the Deacon since: 1987

What is your faith background?
I grew up Pentecostal. My father was an Assemblies of God pastor.

I love St. Philip the Deacon because:
Robert Frost said, in his poem The Death of the Hired Man, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

That’s what I love most about St. Philip the Deacon. When I go there, they have to take me in. And I can sit in the pew and be a terrible mess inside, but then something will act on me—the light, a soaring bit of music, a word from the pulpit, the waiting silence—and I settle into a sort of peace, and a sense of belonging. And though I may feel outcast when I arrive, by the time I leave I usually know that there is a place for me.

Have you ever been surprised by God?
I am surprised by the way God shows up in my work, and I am often unaware of it until much later.

If you could meet God face-to-face, what would you want to ask?
I would wonder, how in the world do you manage to love us all? And this is not a question, but most of all I think I would want to say thank you.

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