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
It is a curious exercise to consider the humanity of Jesus– dependent social hobbled by the burdens of everyday life suffering from compassion fatigue. Little wonder that he craved camaraderie in the school of hardship. Lessons in the mathematics of poverty and despair the rhetoric of injustice the geography of resilience. Stories that stayed with him trained him to endure the pain and keep a … Continue reading Friends
The wine spills into my body through lie-stained lips enters my bloodstream mingles with the givenness of my blood obediently nourishes cell and soul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meanwhile I carry on like an ignorant executioner who occasionally wonders how he came to do this work. Continue reading Eucharist II
saint sinner seeker 