-
The Midwest and Mortality: Reflections after a Tornado Warning
Continuing my latest string of mildly-morbid posts… When I lived in Arizona, I was invincible. At least, that’s how I felt. Sure, we had the odd monsoon and dust storm, but these rarely did anything more than shuffle our garbage bins down the street and coat our pool floaties in dirt. With only two seasons…
-
Sanctified Squirrels
Our basement is weird. Even weirder than the typical Midwestern basement. In one room, a pulpit faces a window looking out on an enormous oak tree. Squirrels dart to and fro as my husband preaches to their twitchy noses and (perhaps after frightening them with difficult theological truth) their bushy tails. Down the hallway lies…
-
Choral Dissonance: Separating Musical and Biblical Literacy
Originally posted on Ryanne Molinari: “Who’s Goliath?” The past week, I’ve entrenched in Christmas concerts and rehearsals with a community college, a public high school, and a community choir. It is the first Christmas in a long time when I have not been busy accompanying a church choir, where the question “Who’s Goliath?” would never…
-
Doing Death Together
Maybe it’s because it’s Lent or maybe because I played for a funeral on Saturday, but I’ve been thinking a lot about death. Okay, actually, I think that’s just my personality. I’m a joyfully melancholic person with a bent toward the Medieval. Memento mori (“remember that you must die”) has always been more appealing to…
-
Reading Roundup: February 2023
I read ten books in February and, as usual, my reading tastes are unpredictable. The genres I enjoyed range from speculative fiction to poetry to journalism and nonfiction to historical biblical fiction. It would be a wild ride if I weren’t, well, sitting comfortably on my couch with a cup of coffee and a blanket.…
-
Make Christian Nonfiction Beautiful Again
Yesterday, several people asked me what I was reading. When I replied, “Abraham Kuyper’s The Work of the Holy Spirit” and showed them this thick treasure-trove of a tome, there were two basic responses: 1) nodding and backing away as though Reformed theology is contagious and 2) an appreciative nod accompanied by some comment that…
-
Ash Wednesday
Speak o’er me those desired and dreaded words:Pronounce my death while I yet live and breathe.Adorn me with the burnt kiss of our Lord,Preparing me for glory—and for grief. Say to me what I most long and fear to hear!Announce my life to be of little worthEven as you declare that I am dearTo the…
-
I Envy Batman
My husband and I love Batman. He’s probably the only superhero I can actually stand. However, I envy him this one thing: the simplicity of his double identity. I would love to simply be “reclusive millionaire” by day and “avenger of the city” by night. Really, I just like the idea of having a clear…
-
Why I Moved to Iowa
I was asked today how I knew moving to Iowa was the right choice. This picture is the closest I can come to an answer. In June 2021, two weeks before our wedding, Billy and I visited Iowa for him to interview at Prairie Bible Church and it was one of the worst weekends of…
-
Till We Have Faces – Discussion Questions
A friend and I are reading C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. This is my third trek through this masterpiece and, upon finishing it this morning, I decided to look up the HarperOne reading guide. The questions on this guide are fine, but seem a bit surface-level for such a mythical, mystical book. So, here…
-
Love
Foremost and fertile, it images the TrueVine in Whom all things are made and made anew.It is at once the soil and root:Love, agapé, the Spirit’s firstborn fruit. I’ll likely add more to this poem in the future, but it seemed thematic for Valentine’s Day. Did you know that love isn’t merely the first fruit…
-
Bad at Bows…My Most Embarrassing Moment
Alright. It’s time. I survived a weekend of concerts and managed not to panic. Panic over what, you ask? Surely you’ve played enough concerts not to be nervous! True. I have. It’s not the music I get nervous about. It’s the bows. I am finally going to blog about my most embarrassing moment, my origin…
Recent Posts
- Trustworthy and Trustful
- Last Things First: March–April 2026
- Turn Your Eyes
- In All Things Thee to See
- The Singing Love of God
Subscribe for Free
Support
If you enjoy my work and would like to keep the music playing and words flowing, consider buying her a coffee using the button below.
Social Media
Ryanne Molinari 