For many Christians, praying daily with scripture is an important devotional practice. There are a number of ways to do this. One of the easiest and most portable is to use the Irish Jesuit’s Sacred Space 2019 prayer book or find it free on their website (www.sacredspace.ie). They include a short snippet of scripture from the daily lectionary — scriptures chosen to be read in churches and homes worldwide — with suggestions for points of reflection. You can read it... Read more
If you find it hard to relax into prayer during Advent, try this contemplative prayer exercise. It’s adapted from Anthony Bloom’s classic book Beginning to Pray. Bloom, a Russian Orthodox Archbishop who died in 2003, wrote this short book in 1970 and it continues to be an inspiration to people of prayer today. In his chapter, “Managing Time,” Bloom describes this prayer exercise in narrative form.i I’ve broken it down into steps. It’s simple and short enough that it can... Read more
Advent is the perfect time for reflection on the past, the present and hope for the future. The season honors the days prior to the birth of Jesus — a time of waiting in anticipation for Mary and her family. It’s also a time to enjoy the new thing God is about to do in your life. This Advent season, SD101 will offer one prayer practice a day for you to use, pass along or save for later. Most of... Read more
We need to work on slowing down. Everything moves faster than it used to, and that affects how we find balance and connection in our spiritual life. Last week, I attempted simple maintenance on one of our older computers and was horrified at how slow it ran compared to my newer, more powerful desktop. It challenged my patience to have to wait minutes rather than seconds for it to pull up a program or a file. My husband — a... Read more
In the last few days the pre-midterm-election rhetoric and divisiveness have ramped up. I found it pretty depressing until I took some time to check in with what I truly believe. I hope this blog post will inspire you to do the same. Here are five reasons I believe hate will not win on November 6. There are more kind people than hateful ones in our nation. The hatemongers seem to get a lot of airtime, but overall, most Americans... Read more
We’re taught to “put our heads together,” to combine our collective wisdom, to solve problems in life. But sometimes it takes an experience of group discernment to really “get it.” I’d like to share one of mine. One day while attending San Francisco Theological Seminary, five of us were given a seminary van to take across the bay to the Lutheran seminary in Berkeley for a pastoral counseling class. On the drive home late that evening, the van developed a... Read more
It seems churches are churning out “choir boys” who don’t know how to treat women. In light of the contentious battle on Capital Hill around the Judge Kavanaugh nomination and a lot of misunderstanding around consent, I am revisiting this piece about appropriate attitudes toward women, especially in churches, as described by those in the #ChurchToo movement. Women are trying to get a point across on this subject and we are not being heard. Patriarchal religious institutions often treat women... Read more
If we are to love our enemies, as Jesus emphatically taught, we ought to keep them in our prayers. It’s the last thing many of us want to do these days. Who is my enemy? People who strive to be good don’t like to think we have enemies. Your enemy is someone who is working against you; someone who does not have your best interest at heart; perhaps someone who hurt you and shows no remorse. Part of being human... Read more
For some time now, the motto of my denomination, the United Church of Christ, has been “God is still speaking.” This leaves us to wonder: how do we listen? It’s such an important question. What is God’s voice like? Is it still and small? The sound of sheer silence? Is it an “aha” moment when we needed it? Since we’re all made so differently, it stands to reason that the voice or leading of the Spirit will be experienced in... Read more
People usually enter spiritual direction in order to experience spiritual growth. It’s a tough thing to gauge since spiritual experiences vary greatly. But now and then it’s important to look back and consider where and how spiritual growth has taken place. The longer you are in spiritual direction, the easier it is for both you and your director to evaluate this. I prefer the directee be the one who names what they have seen happening in them as a result... Read more
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