In a time when our emotions seem like a soup with lots of unexpected ingredients, it is tempting to find ways to numb ourselves. It’s too much! Yet ignoring our emotions is not a habit I recommend. It is helpful to turn to the Psalms of the Bible, where the realities of the human condition are expressed vividly. They could help you express your own … Continue reading Spiritual Practice: Writing Psalms
Today’s practice is the Prayer of Loving Kindness. The beauty of this prayer is in the many ways it can be used. My first introduction to it was in a contemplative mode, praying it slowly and repeatedly, for yourself and others. First, for yourself, taking your time. Then pray it for someone who has blessed your life, a benefactor. Then for a friend, then someone … Continue reading Spiritual Practices: Prayer of Loving Kindness
The quality that we so often seek in our lives is joy. When we become wise enough to know that joy cannot be manufactured through short-lived pleasures, we might settle for less. We might resign ourselves to what the writer of Ecclesiastes concludes: “there is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccles. 1:9) Or we could learn the secret to joy: gratitude. There was a time … Continue reading Spiritual Practices: Gratitude
One of the compulsions most of us wrestle with is the desire for control. The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing to all of us our illusion of control. Layers of confidence in our careers, our bank accounts, our health are being peeled away without our consent. When we can release our hold on our cherished expectations, we are invited to explore deeper dimensions of trusting God, … Continue reading Spiritual Practices: Welcoming Prayer
I have used this prayer often, and it always helps me move into the day with intention and joy. It is by Joyce Rupp from her book Out of the Ordinary. I post it here with her permission. The video will help you see it in action. Stretch your arms high and wide above your head. I thank you, Holy One, for the gift … Continue reading Spiritual Practices: Six Gestures of the Morning Prayer
Sometimes in these uncertain times, I find myself getting very anxious and overwhelmed. The best remedy for me is to get out and walk, and let the sounds of nature as well as the silence speak to my soul. I accept it as God’s love manifest in the moment. The act of taking each step, feeling the ground under my feet and the effort of … Continue reading Spiritual Practices: Walking, and Five Questions
While we all follow recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19, many of us will miss meeting together for worship. Yet there are other ways to feel close to God. As a spiritual director and pastor, I am posting a spiritual practice each week on this blog, to help everyone learn new ways to experience God’s presence. A good one to start with is called … Continue reading Spiritual Practice: The Jesus Prayer
STOP. Most of the time that only means “pause.” Just long enough to look for traffic, to take a photo, to take a pill. But sometimes we know enough to quit what we are doing and pay attention to what matters: a child who needs a bedtime story, a friend who needs a listening ear, a neighbor who needs a helping hand. We know enough … Continue reading Finding and Being Sabbath
He never said, “Be safe.” He saw what they did with the life-giving Law, its walls now closing in on souls meant to roam free. Perhaps his tears over the city were not for all her wanderings, but for her fear, her lack of wonder, her contentment with the small, tame world of scrupulous obedience. He shook her at her core, tumbled the Temple, untamed … Continue reading Into the Wild
Nobody knows how or when the O Antiphons were written, but they are first mentioned in the sixth century. They are used on the days preceding Christmas Eve, December 17-23. I offer them to you now, at a time when you may be more open to them. After the rush and intensity of Advent and the Nativity, after the blessedness (and bloatedness) of celebrations, I … Continue reading Response to the O Antiphons
saint sinner seeker 