I had the pleasure of being a part of an ordination service a few weeks ago at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston. It was a lovely space and a wonderful service. Walking in, a friend and I commented on how you could smell the history of this place… the beautiful aged wood and generations of incense and prayer. Somewhere in the process of the service, I noticed a beautiful stained glass window behind the altar. Though the image I offer... Read more
“But, for me, in that moment, on that particular evening, the words simply would not come” As a spiritual director, you might expect that I spend a fair amount of time thinking about prayer, talking about prayer, and actually praying. Lately I’ve been reflecting on how varied my experiences of prayer have been throughout my life. The most poignant moment of change happened when our son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This is how I wrote about it in... Read more
“She referenced the Trinity as Life-giver, Pain-bearer, and Love maker.” Last Sunday was “Trinity Sunday” in the Episcopal church. I’m not quite sure why this doctrine gets its own Sunday. Perhaps it is because it inspired jolly old St. Nicholas to punch another guy in the nose. I have never felt particularly connected to the importance of the Trinity, especially since it is a construct we came up with more than a overtly Biblical teaching. But I was intrigued by... Read more
“When God invites me to give voice to something like the importance of self-compassion and self-care, it seems that an integral part of that giving voice is to live what I speak.“ Ahhhh… the relief of no more guilt from neglecting my blog. Okay, maybe I need to start that again on a more compassionate note. Ahhhh… the gift of experiencing enough pain relief, creative energy, and schedule discipline to finally be able to have the head and body space... Read more
Some years, we elect our Lenten discipline, thoughtfully chosen to strategically open or soften parts of our hearts that feel more like stone than like flesh. This year my heart got a different kind of journey than I had plotted. The Lent I had planned included a series of 40 reflections, 31 already thought through and outlined…. All focused on feminine spirituality and why we as church seem determined to avoid this reality of gender different spirituality in favor of... Read more
Day 4: Repentance redefined: Giving up exhaustion and opening to change “exhaustion was not fertile soil for growth and change” We had been meeting for about two years when my directee said to me: “You know the most helpful thing you’ve said to me since we’ve been meeting is “God is not in favor of exhaustion.”” As a woman who struggles with over-work, conversation about balance and spiritual practice were a large part of our conversations together. But it wasn’t... Read more
” Not one more day did Jesus want this woman to live bent over.” As I was completing work on my third book, My Own Worst Enemy, I encountered the story of the woman bent over. Listening once more to this Jesus-initiated, compassion-driven, Sabbath day healing of a woman bent over for 18 years, I was suddenly overwhelmed with all the ways that we as women may live bent over: We tend to the needs of others while neglecting our... Read more
Day 2: “The pattern of Hannah’s spiritual growth echoes that of many, many other women in Scripture: growth toward a larger sense of voice and personhood rather than silence.” I grew up in a faith tradition that believed women were to be seen and not heard in the church and, for most part, at home, too. Based on a few verses from the Epistles, an entire gender, including myself, was silenced. Yet new questions rose within me as I began... Read more
“If I don’t know how to connect in my mess, I miss a lot of loving. “ It is an odd moment to be a favorite. But it’s mine. My favorite liturgical moment of the church year happens today, Ash Wednesday, in the middle of the service. It is the moment when I exchange the peace of Christ with my neighbors in the midst of ashes on my head and theirs. It is an experience somewhat foreign to me: connection... Read more
“The more I listened, the more I recognized within myself a deep hunger to be more aware of the Mystery all around me.” I don’t know why it is that when I attempt to meditate, my mind resorts to Dr. Seuss. It has been more than 30 years since I was first read Dr. Seuss’s ABCs to our son, but it is still stuck deep in the crevasses of my neural folds. Big “A” little “a”, what begins with “A”?... Read more
Women, Wisdom, and the Word
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