What can God do with brokenness, with everything we wish didn't happen, couldn't happen, but does and leaves a huge mess. What possibly could God do. Friends of mine asked me to pray. There’s a conflict. The words they used were “there’s so much brokenness.” There always is. We try to forget... Continue Reading →
The Active Pose of Reverence
A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to be a part of an Inter-faith event at Mount Royal University. The interfaith chaplaincy office invited students of different religious faiths to speak about these faiths, how they personally came to them, how they understood them and what their faith means in their everyday lives. Sikh,... Continue Reading →
Tennyson and the Bells on New Year’s Day
"Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. … Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring... Continue Reading →
The Magic YES of 2016
In the book A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd, a young girl, Felicity, her mother and her sister, are moving to their mother’s Tennessee mountain hometown after a decade of travelling around, rootless. Rumor is that the town has magic, real magic. Felicity’s mom explains to her: “The town HAD... Continue Reading →
Advent in the Dark (Or The First Year….)
(These are thoughts that have been rattling around my head and that we are talking about a lot in our church community--thankful for those honest pastors...) Woman with Candle Casper David Friedrich, 18th century, Germany When I was about 7, I took swimming lessons at the wave pool. During class the waves were turned... Continue Reading →
Mary and Elizabeth
Mary and Elizabeth by Kathe Kollwitz (1928) Mary stopped short of the gate. The servants’s daughter was in the yard, bending over a puddle of water. Beyond her was the goat’s pen and then, in the shade of the doorway she saw her cousin. To Mary, Elizabeth's body looked bigger than before, thicker,... Continue Reading →
Speaking of Spiritual Direction
I was lucky enough to be asked to be on a panel of Spiritual directees and directors last week answering questions on what the practice of spiritual direction is all about and what it could be in people's lives. There were good questions and good discussions. I wanted to post the answers to the questions... Continue Reading →
Women, Bodies and God
Some things take a long time to write. Probably because they take a long time to live. Mary Madgalene Proclaims the Resurrection to the Disciples, Albani Psalter, Hildesheim, 12th century This is a story about when my body told me it was time to start listening and when I actually listened. ... Continue Reading →
Meditations on Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm
Christ in the Storm, Rembrandt, 1633 I came across this painting in a book a little while ago and could not stop looking at it. It was in a book called Contemplative Vision – specifically looking at paintings, visual art. The author, Juliet Benner talks about about how “seeing” spiritual realities depends on our... Continue Reading →
A Call to Worship
Worship, in all of its states and ways, serves to open our hearts to our true home, our hearts to our true selves and will always work to infuse this world with the incredible beauty of living with God. If our worship is a clear seeing, a window cleared of fog, just for a moment,... Continue Reading →
jacquimignault 
Recent Comments