I have been privileged to spend some time recently with a woman in our church who is in the final days of her life. She is on her journey home, and her cancer ravaged body is shutting down. It is a beautiful thing to see the love that her family shares with her and…
As part of my Super Spectacular Sabbatical blog redesign, I hearby implement a series of Monday prayer practices. (Thanks for the nudge, Sandi!) Each Monday I will post a suggestion for a creative arts prayer practice–in the spirit of the activities that were part of our Lenten Retreat. If the practice appeals to you, make…
Today is my first official day of sabbatical! I have four months to read and pray and write, to rejuvenate and refresh, to deepen my pastoral identity and hone my pastoral skills. And it all starts today! According to “The Plan,” I was supposed to be on retreat today and tomorrow. Then I looked at…
My artistic reflection on this week’s Gospel reading from the Lectionary: John 12: 20-33.
For those of you still thinking about whether or not to sign on for this year’s Creative Arts Lenten Retreat, please note that tomorrow–Valentine’s Day, is the last day to order the retreat kit with the art supplies. The PDF of the written booklet will be available any time. I am so glad to…
Last Saturday I was awake at 5 a.m. I didn’t want to get up, so I stayed warm under my covers and started thinking. I began making a mental outline of the sermon that I needed to write that morning. Then I started thinking about possible crafts for the February craft kit. And back and…
I did not write any liturgical pieces for my congregation this week–sometimes it’s nice to use the words of others. So rather than provide you with words for corporate worship today, I am sharing with you a spiritual practice that I appreciate called praying in color. Sybil Macbeth made this prayer form popular with her…
This is the little table in the prayer corner at my house. I was inspired to create this space several months ago after I came home from a retreat. If you’d like to see a picture of the family member who spends the most time here, click on over to my guest blog at the…
I’m finishing up a beautiful novel: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards. At one point in the novel, Bree is talking with her sister Norah. Bree has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and Norah is worried about her. Bree says, “I’m on the church prayer list. That helps.” This comment struck me first…
I love these lines from a Wendell Berry poem: Best of any song is bird song in the quiet, but first you must have the quiet This year I’m thinking of Lent as an opportunity to experience the quiet before the glorious bird song of Easter. Last year, I took on a major Lenten discipline—I…
Spacious Faith 