While we can inhabit holy spaces, scripture reveals that the holy inhabits us as well. God puts the holy law within us. God writes on our hearts. God cleans us from the inside out. As we consider holy spaces along this Lenten journey, we must recognize that our very bodies are holy spaces because God…
So we’re not exactly using the Lectionary right now. This Sunday’s theme is “sacrifice,” and here is our call to worship based on Micah 6:6-8. With what shall we come before our God? How shall we approach the Almighty? Should we write large checks? Should we empty our wallets? Should we promise to fast and…
I am notoriously bad with directions. My ability to get lost has amazed and astounded my friends throughout the years. Some of them have found out the hard way that just because I’ve been somewhere before does not mean I know how to get there again. For that matter, just because I’ve gotten somewhere does…
Lent was a fairly new concept for me when I was in college, and one year I decided to make the ultimate sacrifice—chocolate. I still remember standing in the ice cream parlor, looking at the luscious rocky road and chocolate swirl and brownie chunk ice cream–and choosing butter pecan. Butter pecan. Such is the suffering…
Over the past several months I have been working with others to craft a resolution. I am happy to announce that the “Becoming a Just Church Resolution” has now been submitted to the Mennonite Church USA Resolutions Committee! Those of us supporting this resolution believe it speaks an important word to our denomination as we…
In the Celtic spiritual tradition, people refer to “thin places”–spaces where the veil between the Divine and the earthly is especially thin; places where you can easily have a sense of the holy, a feeling of connection to God. There are places commonly recognized as thin, as holy. The places where Jesus is said to…
Creative Prayer Experience You will need a piece of brown paper; pen, colored pencils or markers; collage materials if desired Cut or tear a cross shape from the piece of brown card stock. On one side of the cross, write, draw, or collage the burdens that you feel you are carrying. On the other side…
*This reflection is excerpted from a sermon on Mark 1:14-20. You can also listen to the audio.] This is one of those overly-familiar texts. One of those Bible stories we’ve heard over and over again since we were kids. I looked up the scripture, saw the heading–”Jesus calls the disciples”–and I knew what the text…
As spiritual descendants of Abraham and Sarah and as followers of Jesus, we live within the holy space of covenant–of God’s promises to us and our promises to God. It might seem on the surface that this holy space of covenant is restrictive. We cannot step outside the boundary of the covenant. We must be…
Read Mark 1:9-15 Choose six words related to baptism and use these words as a basis for a poem. You can write a free form poem, or perhaps use the words to inspire a few haikus. (A haiku is a 3-line poem where the first line has five syllables, the second line has 7 syllables,…
Spacious Faith 