(Matthew 15:21-28) God, This story is not the one I have in mind when I pray to be more like Jesus.I am already good at ignoring things that threaten to throw off my carefully laid plans.I need no encouragement to try to control the focus of my work according to my vision—which I conveniently claim is yours.In…
God, Fill us with your Spiritthat we might have courage—Courage to be vulnerable,To risk being wrong;Courage to speak hard truths,And to accept them;Courage to lead through uncertainty,And to ask for help when we need it;Courage to try something new,And to try something again;Courage to take up our cross,And to follow you, regardless.It is a frightening…
Almighty, suffering God,whose love for us extends from the heights of heavento the depths of Mary’s womband even into the darkness of the grave,Receive now these prayers we offer at the foot of your cross:For those, like Jesus, who must flee their homelands for fear of violence.For those, like Jesus, with no place to lay…
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…
We are in the season of Epiphany! If you have a star word this year, you might want to print out the sheet below and spend a little time reflecting on your word. (Note that Patreon subscribers will receive this sheet along with an additional star word page and the regular monthly journal pages later…
Good morning and happy Monday, friends! My intention for 2023 is to share posts on Spacious Faith at least twice a week. (Giving grace in weeks that involve vacation, illness, or as-yet-undetermined crises.) Wednesdays I will post words for worship, which may or may not be helpful for you in your particular context. But I…
This is a blessing I wrote for my reflection on “Advent for Every Body,” an aural devotional from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (Portland). While the blessings in Expecting Emmanuel are written in the voices of individual women (and the community of weeping mothers), this blessing is in the voice of the full line of women connected…
This prayer connects to the story of Rahab in Joshua 2. God, We pray for those on the margins,For their safety,For their wisdom,For their power. We pray for those at the centers,For their openness,For their compassion,For their acting toward justice. We pray for ourselves and all the spaces we inhabit.Let us listen well—to others and…
Expecting Emmanuel contains a lot of worship material for those using the book as a basis for Advent worship. The funny thing is, the prayers in the book–a prayer of confession and offertory prayer–aren’t actually the types of prayers we regularly use in worship at Peace Mennonite. So even though I wrote the book, I…
Source of Life,Creative Force,Bearer of BurdensWho longs to gather us under your strong, feathery wings:We are tired of being the parent, the pastor,The figure-outer, the fixer.We grow weary of the weight we carry.We are exhausted from being the one in charge.Except, of course, we’re not in charge,Because if we were, things would not be such…
Spacious Faith 