I was knocked to my knees yesterday as I heard the news of my dear Sister Carol‘s sudden passing. Carol has been my spiritual director for nearly 3 years and became (in her words) my “spiritual grandmother.” We loved one another deeply, in the way only Jesus could orchestrate. I feel a bit lost already […]
Year of Transformation
Greetings friends! I am so grateful for you! I pray this letter finds you experiencing the grace of God right in the middle of your daily comings and goings. Many of you have kindly been inquiring how I am doing, how the girls are, how Kevin’s new job is, and how our family is adjusting. […]
The Work of the People
A note to my friends, a people called Monroe Free Methodist From where I sit on Sunday mornings I have noticed something shifting among us, something beautiful and essential changing the very nature of who we are as a church. Have you felt it too? No longer is there an invisible line separating the leaders […]
The Invitation of Lent
God of wilderness and water, your Son was baptized and tempted as we are. Guide us through this season, that we may not avoid struggle, but open ourselves to blessing, through the cleansing depths of repentance and the heaven-rending words of the Spirit. Amen. source Explanation of Lent The season of Lent began just a […]
Overflowing Joy
These past many months I have been marveling at the sweetness of God. I have experienced His presence, His nearness with me almost constantly in a way more intimate than before. Rather than only noticing God at work around me – in conversations or in nature – my spirit is simply aware of Spirit, comfortably […]
Justice and Humanity
From July 11-20, I was experiencing the lush country landscapes of Guatemala, meeting the beautiful people – both Spanish and indigenous – and learning historical, cultural, and justice lessons with my fellow cohort friends and professors. This intensive residency is a part of our graduate program – a Master’s in Spiritual Formation and Leadership. The […]
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Homes of Hospitality
I’m going to suggest something crazy: what if God’s call for his people – for us – is to create lives and communities of hospitality? From the time of creation, through the covenant with Abraham, to the sending of the Spirit: all of these pivotal moments in the story of God’s People has had to […]
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Living Disciplined in the Dark
In a brief reading of Psalm 66 it’s easy to get distracted by the overarching theme of praise and we might start to think the spiritual journey is linear: a straight line of praising God. The psalmist declares that all the world ought to be offering constant adoration to God for the great deeds He […]
Resurrection People
The week ahead of us is a bit of a roller coaster ride. We begin with Palm Sunday and the throngs of people cheering in the streets for this King Jesus. We will sing “Hosanna!” and wave our palms with shared excitement. We follow the story through our daily Scripture readings and watch as many […]
Stay in the Cloud
The essence of this exercise is nothing else but a simple and direct reaching out to God for himself…not (asking) to be released from pain or for his reward to be increased; in a word (the practitioner) asks for nothing but God himself; so much so that s/he takes no account or regard of […]