Singing Along the Journey

beliefs

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

The sky shall unfold…

Sorry, all I can hear is the words of the old Dottie Rambo song, We Shall Behold Him. I don't know, seemed like a Pentecost sky to me....glory peaking through to let us have a wee glimpse of just what is possible if we embrace the brightness that seems just beyond our grasp?
Read More

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

People, look East…the search for hope and wonder

People look East -- the first words of a familiar hymn often sung during Advent.  I'm having trouble leaving the words of this hymn confined within their traditional time frame.  The meaning of time has certainly changed for many of us these past months, and if 2020 changes anything, those changes call me to embrace the hope and preparation of Advent as a lifestyle, not a season. People look East, the time is near. Yesterday, as I rose at an hour all too early and all too cold for the end of December, again, I made my morning calculation -- which way will I walk?  Will I head to the…
Read More

Preparing the way…part the third

I don't know how you spent your lunch hours last week, but I spent most of mine describing in detail the Baptist distinctives of local church autonomy and soul freedom and just why it was not appropriate for the SBC to ask church communities to sign a statement of faith and belief.  That, combined with the other half of that luncheon discussion -- just what is meant by the formal process of discernment through which the majority of my classmates have just passed -- has left me feeling like I spent the last week in the tumbler of one of those rock polishing machines that I banished from the house over…
Read More

Let’s talk about…questions

Ever since I can remember,  I have been chasing my ideas about life with a single solitary question.  That question? The question is this: where did that (that being anything peeking my curiosity) come from (I know, I just ended a sentence with a preposition, sorry).  One of my earliest memories is of the day I followed my then-beagle companion Toby into the dog house because I wondered where she was when she went through that little hole.  My father's reaction was not one of amusement. It was one of the few times I remember being punished as a small child. Well, maybe the punishment came because once inside the dog house I tried to hide…
Read More

Five times a day…

I remember so clearly my first experience in the city of Istanbul -- the sound of the call to prayer coming from the beautiful Blue Mosque as the day was done. Of course, my travel companion and I were sitting in a rooftop bar sipping from a glass of hot apple tea, having just arrived in the city and experiencing jet-lag beyond belief.  But each and every day, five times a day, we were drawn by that sound -- a sound simultaneously foreign and comforting to us .  We laughed at the time, saying that we thought perhaps we should initiate a call to prayer from the bell tower at our…
Read More

Thistles, tea and transformation….healing as a practice

Some days, you just need a reminder that there are people in this world who follow God's breadcrumbs against all the odds and do the work needed to transform their little corner into a living expression of the Kingdom of Heaven in this world.  Last night I had the chance to listen to just such a person, the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene House, a residential program that "stands in solidarity with"  women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, and drug addiction as they come in from the streets and changes their lives.   And next, out of a need to support these women and this work, and to…
Read More

Love, imperfectly known…

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of the General Confession used in Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer. I know, strange words for someone who insists that she continues to identify as with the Baptist distinctives as a format building block of her faith.  But, despite the fact that Episcopalians everywhere often begin each morning with these words (as they are the opening corporate prayer of the Morning Prayer discipline), these are words (and sentiments) which belong to the whole Body of Christ. Let’s read together these words of confession, and then I’ll share what I’ve been thinking: Most merciful God,  we confess that…
Read More