Joel Kurz

Joel Kurz
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Joel Kurz is a parish pastor in a Missouri college-town. Born in Tennessee, raised in the Philippines, Missouri, and Texas, he tries to be attentive to every place he is. A poet, essayist, and reviewer, his writing has appeared over the years in places such as Sojourners, Weavings, The Cresset, Friends Journal, Concordia Journal, Worship, Lutheran Forum, Mockingbird, The Land Report, and EcoTheo Review. Whenever he can, he makes time to run, hike, garden, and cook.

Recent Essays

Ruddy Glory: The Resonance of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Was May demonstrating, knowingly or not, that even the isolated and disparaged—on the very nose of their ridicule—could be pointing the way brightly ahead through a dark and foggy future? Assuming that he was well aware of the increasing indignities and sufferings endured by his much-maligned people in the wider world, I can only think so.

How to Make and Lose Friends (& Influence a Few People): Learning from Carry Nation and Dale Carnegie

I guess that paradox is what intrigues me about Carry and Dale’s differing personal constitutions and methodologies. I see them appealing to all of us in different ways—whether we have many friends or few, whether our influence is recognized or not—to embark upon the truly influential gift of friendship.