How do we cultivate a clear speaking and writing voice? How do we come into sounding like ourselves, speaking with honest and vulnerability on the page or in person? I want to offer four stepping stones to help you move…
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How do we cultivate a clear speaking and writing voice? How do we come into sounding like ourselves, speaking with honest and vulnerability on the page or in person? I want to offer four stepping stones to help you move…
Read MoreToday’s post falls on Epiphany, and that makes today a good day to call on our ancestors and descendants for help with our vocations. Looking back and looking forward is a good way to tune into the present moment. To…
Read MoreEvery generation must figure out how to work out their need for deconstructing and reconstructing faith. This spiritual and theological work feels at once exciting and urgent, and also risk-filled and terrifying. It isn’t merely an intellectual exercise, deconstructing faith…
Read MoreIf I asked you today, what would you tell me about your need for silence? In this week’s episode, I ask Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow about the thread of silence that runs through his “faith montage.” Bruce’s new book Everything Good…
Read MoreThis year I want to think beyond โAmerican Thanksgivingโ and its usual traditions. I want to share with you my commitment to understanding, learning from, and supporting Indigenous Peoples. Many of them are seeking to care for and โreclaim stewardship…
Read MoreOur guest this week is Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, and he is sharing his new book and his process of writing about faith. Bruce is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church USA, a speaker, and the author of five books…
Read MoreToday we are considering the very important question of how to worship? This is our final episode from my conversation with Rev. Dr. Clรกudio Carvalhaes. What a joy to share Clรกudio’s enthusiasm and wisdom for practices of creativity, sustaining the…
Read MoreIn my conversation with Rev. Dr Clรกudio Carvalhaes this week, we talk about how to pray. We begin with one of Claudioโs recent projects and books Liturgies from Below: Praying with People at the End of the World. The project…
Read MoreThis week we welcome Rev. Dr. Clรกudio Carvalhaes for a conversation about sustaining creativity. In our first conversation last week we talked with Clรกudio about how he created the play โWhen Wajcha Meets Pachamama.โ Watch or listen to Episode 245…
Read MoreI’m excited to welcome my friend and colleague Rev. Dr. Clรกudio Carvalhaes to talk with me and you about many things, starting this week with creative process. Claudio is a professor, minister, liturgist, artist, and author. A year ago he…
Read MoreI want to talk with you this week about teaching pastoral imagination. As we launch a new year of theological education in the US, I am hearing again: โpastors and ministers are not fully prepared for their work.โ Recent studies…
Read MoreWe asked some wise pastors and professors for a some back-to-school wisdom for 2024, and they generously shared it. You will find their wisdom in this post for students of all ages, parents, teachers, and seminarians. We hope you will…
Read MoreCallie Swanlundโs new book is part of a beautiful and growing effort by writers addressing ministers and church leaders, reminding us, you are not alone! From Weary to Wholehearted is Callieโs love letter to remind you and me of many…
Read MoreTaking out the trash reminded me how transition and grief are messy and complicatedย I move four dusty pink vases, two glass candy dishes, and an old cigar box off the brown microwave cart. I check the drawer and cabinet.…
Read MoreItโs hard to believe that an hour of writing with support each weekday is enough to really accomplish anything. And one of my Vanderbilt professors used to say, If you are going to be a successful scholar and publish enough…
Read MoreThe last seven weeks of my life have been like no other, and they have included unearthing treasure among other things. On Good Friday we began the process of taking over finances, legalities, and material stuff to support my parents…
Read MoreThis week we are back with Rev. Callie Swanlund and talking about what it means to live into a sustainable and wholehearted ministry. Tomorrow May 7 is a big day for Callie and her new bookย From Weary to Wholehearted: A…
Read MoreWe are celebrating a new book for clergy and lay leaders: From Weary to Wholehearted is landing soon! This “love letter” from Rev. Callie Swanlund is a remedy for these days of clergy isolation, exhaustion, and burnout. Callie is a…
Read MoreThe end of March often arrives, and I realize that I didnโt mark the anniversary or celebrate my ordination. This year Iโm celebrating on March 19. It is the day I was ordained. And Iโm happy to share a few…
Read MoreWhere were you on March 11, 2020, four years ago? The start of the COVID-19 pandemic was different for everyone by a few days. March 11 was the day the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. On March 9, I…
Read MoreWhat is the purpose of Lent? Learning to pay attention. And what is the purpose of paying attention? Being present to God and each other and all of creation. And what happens when we pay attention and become more present…
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