Things haven’t been easy of late. Stuff that was supposed to move forward has ground to a stop. Things that weren’t supposed to happen did. There has been silence where I thought speech was supposed to be and conversations where I kind of longed for silence. And it’s been winter, which never is easy forContinueContinue reading “As the deer longs …”
Category Archives: Reflections
Why Christianity? And Why Lutheranism in Particular?
The confirmation project for our last year confirmation student(s) is to work with a mentor to answer and present their own personal answer to one of several proposed questions as they and the mentor talk about life and faith and being church together. In a series of newsletter articles, I’m inviting the congregation toContinueContinue reading “Why Christianity? And Why Lutheranism in Particular?”
What does it mean to be a person of faith?
The confirmation project for our last year confirmation student(s) is to work with a mentor to answer and present their own personal answer to one of several proposed questions as they and the mentor talk about life and faith and being church together. In a series of newsletter articles, I’m inviting the congregation to also consider the questionsContinueContinue reading “What does it mean to be a person of faith?”
A Blessing for the New Year
This was sent to my congregation in our “weekly-ish” e-newsletter, but I wish these blessings to all of you as well. I was looking for a graphic for the background of the above header image. There are a whole lot of beautiful pictures out there to celebrate the New Year: lots of fireworks, gold, champagneContinueContinue reading “A Blessing for the New Year”
Wait … what?
I kind of missed Advent this year. There was no Advent wreath at my house, no Advent calendar to mark the days. I did not even get to center my days around the Sundays of Advent: watching the acolyte struggle to light the next candle and sing all the beautiful hymns of longing for light,ContinueContinue reading “Wait … what?”
Every Common Bush
Text for this reflection (second in an Advent series called “Revive”): Exodus 3:1-12 “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning What does it take to see the presence of God inContinueContinue reading “Every Common Bush”
Beloved child, get up.
Text for this reflection (in an Advent series entitled “Revive”): Mark 5:21–43 “Talitha cum,” Little Girl, get up. This text is not one that we normally hear this time of year, in the season of Advent. Normally, we get lots of texts from the old testament prophets or the beginning of the Gospels where weContinueContinue reading “Beloved child, get up.”
“Failing” Lent: Day 18
Breathe. Why is Lent—this time of introspection and growth, this time which is supposed to be about taking time, this time which is supposed to be about stripping away and wandering in the wilderness—so crazy busy?? I am looking at my calendar through the month of March and feeling a tad overwhelmed and stressed aboutContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 18″
“Failing” Lent: Day 17
Monday is a good day. It is a day full of small groups. We have one that meets in the morning and one that meets in the evening. We are reading a book together called Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab by Christine Montross. I loved the book when IContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 17″
“Failing” Lent: Day 10/11
I think I’m actually on Day 12 of Lent at this point (and as I finish this, day 13). I have fallen behind in my reflections. I kind of figured I would … it’s really hard to think of something new to write every day that is appropriate to share and vaguely interesting. I’m sureContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 10/11″
“Failing” Lent: Day 9
For months now, I have been struggling with being tired. Really tired. The kind of tiredness that seems to have seeped into my bones. Of course, I’m incredibly stubborn, so I have mostly just pushed through it. I’m pretty good at not letting how I feel stop me from doing what I feel I needContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 9″
“Failing” Lent: Day 7&8
I want to talk a little more about the labyrinth. On Wednesday, I spent most of the day crawling around on the floor to tape all the tiny little blue “stars” together into circles and then to open the circles up to form a path and then to add details at the turns. As IContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 7&8″
“Failing” Lent: Day 6
There are hundreds and hundreds of little tiny irregular blue dots all over the floor in the fellowship hall at Salem. At certain angles, they look randomly placed as though someone tossed confetti in the air and this is how it landed, but if you look a minute you’ll notice that all the little dotsContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 6″
“Failing” Lent: Day 5
I sat down to write last night and stared at the screen. I finally gave up and went to bed. It had been a good and busy day, but I was exhausted. Because I was so exhausted and kind of grouchy most of the day, I didn’t really get what God kept hinting at forContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 5″
“Failing” Lent: Day 4
This morning my devotion turned out to be looking out the window. I was supposed to read something, but this was all I got to. It was all I really needed. There was a fresh layer of maybe two inches on the ground, which seemed a dusting after the 30″ we got last week. ItContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 4″
“Failing” at Lent: Day 3
Today was my first “fast” day. It had been a long time since I had fasted last—mostly, I stopped when I started having food issues (I developed an intolerance to egg a long while back) and then gave up meat pretty well full time. I figured that my life was really pretty centered around dietContinueContinue reading ““Failing” at Lent: Day 3″
“Failing” at Lent: Day 2
Today, I have nothing much to report about “messing up” per se, so I thought I’d talk about my experience of busy-ness. I noticed it today—especially this morning as I sat down to my devotional text from Hildegaard… The practice that I’m using to explore the devotional text is Lectio Divina. It is a wayContinueContinue reading ““Failing” at Lent: Day 2″
Failing at Lent: Day 1
As of today, February 13,2013, the season of Lent has begun yet again. Lent is my favorite season of the year, and I have marked it’s passing in numerous different ways. Some years I had strict disciplines that excluded large portions of my diet for the full forty days (which, I almost kept perfectly). SomeContinueContinue reading “Failing at Lent: Day 1”
Jabbok Dawn 