I'm RevMo Crystal Hardin. Wife. Mother. Recovering Attorney. Photographer. Episcopal Priest. Writer. Preacher.
I often don’t know what I believe until I’ve written or preached it, and the preaching craft is one of my greatest joys. In an effort to refine that craft, I post sermons and musings here for public consumption.
I'm Crystal Hardin. Wife. Mother. Recovering Attorney. Photographer. Writer. Episcopal Priest. Preacher.
I often don’t know what I believe until I’ve written or preached it, and the preaching craft is one of my greatest joys. In an effort to refine that craft, I post sermons and musings here for public consumption.
I grew up in small town Alabama. As an unchurched child, I felt God deeply and sought God hungrily. As a teenager, I took my seeking heart and questioning ways to my local Southern Baptist church where I was baptized.
I found myself sitting in an Episcopal church as a law student. I was confirmed several years later. In the Episcopal Church, I found an encouraging, challenging, and affirming tradition and a community of people who bring out the best in me and love me even at my worst.
My call to the priesthood came as a surprise, and I am still trying to find my footing. (It's probably a losing battle. I'm fairly sure this boat was meant to rock.) I graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in May of 2019 and was ordained in September of 2019. I currently serve as Associate Rector at Saint George’s, Arlington.
Books
“Addressing Polarization and Apathy Through Sacramental Preaching,” in Mysterion Seeking Understanding, eds. Ian S. Markham & Jeremy Means-Koss (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, publication forthcoming).
Crystal J. Hardin & Ian S. Markham, editors, Preaching Politics: The Hope or the Curse of the Episcopal Church (New York: Church Publishing, Inc., 2020).
Articles
“Our Church Doors Are Shut and our Members Quarantined. Yet Grace Abounds,” Sojourners online, March 13, 2020, https://sojo.net/articles/our-church-doors-are-shut-and-our-members- quarantined-yet-grace-abounds.
“A Secular Focus,” The Virginia Episcopalian Magazine (Summer 2016), 25-27.