My prayer practice this morning was a combination of Praying with Color and Zen Doodling. The upcoming Western District Conference is on my mind, so I spent time in prayer for that event and for some of the people connected with it. To engage in this practice, you will need a piece of paper, a…
In her book At Home in the World, Margaret Guenther encourages us to include times of “holy uselessness” in our Rule of Life. As hard-working adults we too often lose the gift for letting go, for delight in simply being. We persuade ourselves that every moment must be lived productively; like the busy little bee,…
One of my sabbatical projects is to develop a Rule of Life—a set of principles and practices that will guide me, that will under-gird the busyness of life with a holy rhythm and a focus on Christ. You won’t be surprised to know that I’ve also been spending significant time these past weeks reading, writing,…
This weekly blog feature grew out of feedback from the Creative Arts Lenten Retreat. Helping people connect with God through creative arts is one of my passions, and I would love for you to join me each week in the suggested practices. I would also love to hear about prayer practices that are meaningful for…
We’re getting ready to head out camping and I realized that I haven’t posted a prayer practice for this week. So here’s some inspiration from a post I wrote last year. “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a…
I don’t know about your part of the world, but here in northeastern Kansas the weather is just about perfect. So for my creative prayer practice this week I took some time to appreciate the works of the Creator. Here’s the basic idea for this practice: Take a walk–around your neighborhood, on a forest path,…
You may be familiar with the practice of lectio divina—a contemplative reading of scripture. This prayer practice of visual lectio divina is an adaptation of the group method in which there are traditionally three readings of a given scripture, with a different meditative focus for each. This visual lectio divina can be practiced individually or…
I’ll be honest. I signed up for 30 Days of Creativity on a whim. A total whim. Because it sounded like fun. And because I could–I’m on sabbatical. The 30 Days website says, “Your brain is like a muscle. When you exercise it, it gets stronger.” One of their signs says, “Through creativity, we can…
There is something about color that energizes me. Something about applying the color inside given boundaries that soothes my mind. So our prayer practice for this week is coloring mandalas. You can pray in many ways as you color: repeat scripture or a prayer phrase, allow your mind to wander around the thoughts that God…
Happy Monday, everyone! This afternoon I am headed to Atlanta for the Festival of Homiletics, which means that I won’t be posting much this week–except for the pre-scheduled worship piece on Wednesday. But I should come back with lots of things to share. So stay tuned! This week’s prayer practice is a simple repetition of…
Spacious Faith 