Have you ever noticed how often Jesus is misunderstood? The religious leaders don’t understand him—they accuse him of false teachings and try to trap him into saying things he doesn’t mean so they can turn the people against him. The people don’t really understand him. Remember when Jesus asks his disciples: Who do people say…
This week’s prayer practice is a prayer doodle. For some reason the “embed” feature isn’t working on WordPress today, so here’s an old-fashioned link to the video. I recently sent out the monthly journal pages and resource links to my Patreon subscribers. You can be one of those subscribers by signing up on my Patreon…
Here is a “stations of Holy Week” service we did several years ago at Peace Mennonite. It takes people through the story of Holy Week through Jesus’ burial. It will need to be adapted for different theological and logistical contexts, but I hope you find the overall structure and simplified readings helpful if you hope…
Seek the Holy One, who may be found;Call upon God, who is near. Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts,Nor are God’s ways our ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and God’s thoughts than our thoughts. The holy word that goes out shall not return empty,but it shall…
I love walking labyrinths and am fortunate to have one to walk in our worship space at Peace Mennonite Church. (For those in the Lawrence, KS, area, we have it open on the first Friday of each month from 9-Noon.) Sometimes, though, you do not have a labyrinth available to walk, and I find a…
This week’s creative prayer practice is based on Exodus 17:1-7, the story of God providing water from a rock. This practice is an opportunity to consider the challenges and blessings in your life and offer it all to God. I do hope you are enjoying these creative prayer practices–and/or finding other practices that are nurturing…
The Spacious Lent creative prayer practice for this second week of Lent is one of my favorite practices: a traced hand prayer. I encourage you to make some space in your week for connecting with God–whether through this practice or another. If you are looking for worship resources for the season, you can find my…
(Second Sunday of Lent, 2023) During Lent, we often talk about the wilderness as a negative place—a place of deprivation, temptation, and wandering. But in this week’s reading from Genesis, God calls Abram into the wilderness: “Go from your country . . . to the land I will show you.” I imagine Abram was terrified—not to…
Our creative arts prayer practice for the first week of Lent is a wilderness dot meditation. When Jesus is tempted, he is in a sacred space–the space where the Spirit has brought him. But it is not only the physical space that is sacred. I believe that times of decision and discernment are sacred spaces…
The first Spacious Lent creative arts prayer practice is now available! For Ash Wednesday, you are invited to create a heart offering–to bring all of yourself to God as we begin this holy season. For this practice, I give a couple of options, the simplest of which requires only pen and paper, with optional colored…
For the season of Lent, I will be sharing videos that explore some different creative prayer practices. I posted a brief intro video today and will post the first practice on Ash Wednesday. (Or maybe even Fat Tuesday night if I’m ahead of the game!) After I recorded the intro, I realized I had left…
For those of you keeping track at home, I’ve been trying to post some liturgical pieces each Wednesday. Usually it’s something I’ve written that connects to the week’s lectionary text(s) (or not). But this week, instead of sharing one or two pieces, I want to share an entire web site: Full disclosure: I recently joined…
Just for fun, here are a few Valentine cards that might have been from Biblical characters. However you celebrate (or not), enjoy your day of love!
We’re not using the Narrative Lectionary at Peace Mennonite right now, but I love this week’s reading on the parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 12:24-43. So I wrote a little something as a reflection on this passage. Honestly, I’m not sure exactly what it is–not quite a prayer, certainly not long enough for a…
Reflection on Song of Songs 4:9-15 and John 2:1-11, readings from Dr. Will Gafney’s Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W. You can read the full sermon text here. The speaker in Song of Songs says, “how much better is your love than wine,” but Jesus’ mother knows that a wedding party can’t run on…
Spacious Faith 