My family shared communion bread in my father’s hospice room before he died. We blessed it, broke it, and ate it. My mom caught a few medical professionals off guard by holding the loaf out to them when they came into the room to check Dad’s blood pressure or give him his medications. But all…
On August 13, a group from the Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance organization gave a presentation at our church. They talked about the terrible environmental damage done by leaking and broken tar sands pipelines and the substantial health issues faced by (inevitably poor) people who live near the pipelines and processing plants. (For a very…
Can decluttering be a spiritual practice? I’m sure it can. But I’ll be honest, my decluttering efforts these days are spurred on more by anxiety than spiritual maturity. My husband and I are hoping to buy a house on some acreage just out of town. He wants to have (more) chickens and gardens and fruit…
The church I serve is pretty non-traditional, but we do have some traditions. One of them is that the children are invited to color the bulletins every Easter. We have a potluck breakfast before worship, and when the kids finish eating they can gather around a table with a stack of bulletins and assorted crayons,…
This is the doodle prayer I prayed for Dad while I was with him in the hospital. You can see that I never did finish it. Or, I guess it is finished, but not how I wanted it to be. In the hospital, I learned that praying through deep fear and grief is hard. Not…
I am involved with a new blog project called Practicing Families. One or two Mondays each month, you’ll find my weekly prayer practice in the form of a family liturgy over on that blog. And never fear, I will always link you over. For my personal prayer practice this morning, I did a visual lectio…
O.K. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch for a “prayer practice.” But this morning, during my sabbath time, I made some Valentine cards. Just me in my quiet house with my art supplies. Yes. It was as wonderful as it sounds. I pray you will find time this week to do something that…
