Silent Night

After a long day of activities, I relish bedtime… It is wonderful to slide in-between clean sheets-soft blanket-and take a moment to pause over a treasured book so that I might quiet my thoughts enough to drift into sleep… And yet the house can seem ominous at times when the an unfamiliar sound breaks the…

Devotions of Triumph

Striking a balance between our private devotional time and our corporate worship is a challenge as we seek to live by faith in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord. But striking a balance we must as one feeds the other. I have discovered over many years of failed attempts that unless I am spending…

A Symbol of Sacrifice

Whether or not you declare an official creed as a part of your worship each week, I encourage you to to sit down, as I did, and try to express your own personal creed or mission statement.  It will help you center your thoughts around what is really important each day and it might guide your path…

Feeling Unclean

We have all felt like we didn’t fit in with a certain crowd of people. They drive nicer cars or they like to talk about things that are out of our life experience. Real or imagined we tend to pull away from people like this because we fear we are just not good enough… But what…

Simplicity Inside/Out

Just received a stack of new books and so started The Art of Pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau this week. One of the questions he asked was “Ask yourself what is absurd in your life right now.” My answer came back as worrying about things you have no control over. I loved these pictures taken by my…

Prayer Inside Out (Summer Blog Tour)

As I approached this week’s blog post about prayer I was reminded of this image that is so iconic and thought I would pair it with one of my favorite hymns. My guest blogger this week is someone I admire very much and so I hope you take his words to heart and may we…

Developing Your Picture

 One of my favorite childhood memories is of the week I would spend each year at Bible camp. It was a chance to be away from home in the beauty of Yosemite and make new friends while studying the Bible and learning all kinds of new songs…I loved to learn all the songs. And this…

Washing Our Hands

We have all said it… Someone has tread on our toes just once too often and we decide in a moment of exasperation that we just don’t need to “put up” with their nonsense anymore. We wake up feeling deeply hurt… Because we are living in a world full of imperfect people, we all experience conflict from…

Sailing in the Light of God

It can be the most upsetting  when we feel we are confidently walking on water and suddenly we are blindsided by a crisis turning our world upside down. Like Peter, a huge wave of doubt can crash in and knock us all off balance… emotionally. How can we find comfort and peace amid the inevitable storms that come our way? By trusting in the…

Pictures of Faith

From the earliest days of our Christian heritage, people have been expressing their faith through imagery. These pictures became tools of their devotion so they might focus their thoughts on a humanistic vision of Jesus. This image from the 2nd century, illustrates beautifully early Christian’s love and devotion to Mary. Through her, they connected more deeply to Christ’s humanity and in the process found little pieces of themselves…