October 31, 2014

Travel in northern New Mexico is a walk with the saints that are so familiar to the communities there that they are almost part of the landscape. Every where one stops–village, fruit stand or plaza, there is at least one commemoration of a saint, primarily those from Scripture, but also from the region, from the Spanish heritage, and from the cultural groups that have settled there. The art of the area is replete with wonderful retablos, bultos and santos. Markets... Read more

October 26, 2014

On my recent journey, I went nowhere without being reminded of the past–in the topography. in the architecture, in the celebration. A deep thread to my own roots was in the exhibit at the New Mexico Art Museum. Judy Chicago, a heroine of my younger adulthood, had an exhibit there, one part of which celebrated her own roots in the Exodus story of the deliverance from slavery, beginning with the journey through the Sea of Reeds. For me the centerpiece... Read more

October 16, 2014

When I travel, a list often accompanies me–things to pack, things to see, tastes to try, people to meet. On this last trip, our cry often went up, “We can check this off our list!” However, in the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, there was a room of paintings of doorways of all kinds, and not far from it, these words: “Invitations on the Journey.” I right then re-framed my pilgrimage from a check list of accomplishments... Read more

September 23, 2014

I am packing to go on a journey—a pilgrimage of sorts, an adventure to discover things I have not seen before. My grand-daughter has created a picture of such a journey for a princess, over mountains and rivers, through canyons with wild weather and unpredictable winds. What does one bring for such a journey? This will also be the journey into a new  year of life for me, not a Big Birthday that ends in a zero, but a new... Read more

September 22, 2014

Notes from the Mainline: A Reflection on The Mainliner’s Survival Guide to the Post-Denominational World As a Christian who has morphed in my spiritual journey from a fundamentalist to an active participant in a mainline congregation, I welcome any perspective that can help me navigate this time of sea change in the Church of the followers of Jesus that we presently are experiencing in the 21st century. Derek Penwell in his new book makes a contribution from his place in... Read more

September 17, 2014

As a spiritual director, I am always pleased to encounter a book that describes and encourages practices that deepen one’s journey of Spirit. Among seminary students I often found impatience with my stress on the necessity of grounding one’s self in spiritual practice as a starting place for ministry of any kind. One pastor of a church where I was invited to speak told me that although I had been invited to make a presentation, “Spirituality is a hard sell... Read more

September 7, 2014

I no longer measure my seasons by external calendars. For most of my life the seasons were spelled out for me by academic calendars, by church calendars, by Big Events happening in the life of people I love. But I no longer have much accountability to those calendars, and where I dwell, the seasonal changes in nature are extremely subtle, and the historical predictions attributed to each season here have become notoriously unreliable. It’s hard to tell which season it... Read more

September 1, 2014

As I read Undiluted by Benjamin L. Corey, I kept hearing an old African-American spiritual in my heart:               Give me Jesus, give me Jesus,               You can have all the rest,               Give me Jesus! This book written with passion and intensity is one that evokes and echoes that longing of Spirit that followers of Christ so often feel as they wend their way on the pilgrimage of faith, as they find that way clouded and cluttered with some... Read more

August 23, 2014

I know that I am blessed! Early in my life my younger brother and I were taught to sing in harmony, “Count your blessings, name them one by one!” and most of my life I have been able to, have chosen to do that, with the melody and harmony etched in my heart and soul. I do believe, as the Reformers did, that the first response to God’s grace is gratitude, made concrete in counting my blessings. To acknowledge my... Read more

August 16, 2014

In the chaos of this summer, I have pondered my faith. In the face of the unrelenting roll-out of tragedy after tragedy, grief after grief,  what do I believe that speaks to the moment, that brings help and healing to me and to those around me? What energy do I find in my faith that moves me and others toward peace and wholeness? I am wondering what the principles and precepts of the faith to which I am committed have... Read more


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