Centering Prayer The work of centering prayer in my body and mind is ever shifting and deepening. The prayer holds both gift and gravity. The depths to which the prayer takes me are significant, but not always easy. In the…
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Learning to Cook: Last night I attended a cooking class at the Chef’s Gallery in Stillwater, Minnesota. And as classes go it was fun, entertaining, informative and useful.
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Three days in a row I found myself sitting with three different circles of women. We gathered around food, friendship, stories, laughter, tears, outrage, and promise. The occasion and purpose for each circle was different, yet they shared some things in common. Conversations took turns through work, love, grief, friendship and gratitude.
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3MMM | Episode 154: Celebrate Pride Part 2
Welcome to Part 2 of Celebrate PRIDE this week! We are sharing stories of ministers who identify as LGBTIQA+ in the Learning Pastoral Imagination (LPI) Project. This week we drop in on two ministers at the stage of deciding on…
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3MMM | Episode 128: Ministry in No-Win Situations
Challenge. Question. Conflict. Change. How do you practice ministry in a no-win situation? Last week I talked with more than two dozen pastors, ministers, and chaplains. I also talked with ministry mentors and my seminary colleagues. And in my weekly…
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3MMM | Episode 107: Katharine Lassiter on Emotional Intelligence
Happy Monday Morning, Friends! Did you know that every episode this year in 3MMM Season Three is about a topic that is also a chapter in my new book Pastoral Imagination: Bringing the Practice of Ministry to Life? Did you…
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The World is on Fire | How will we respond to the movement for Black lives?
The world is on fire. How are we going to respond? In the past week, my attention and all my news and social feeds were riveted to the protests in more than 140 cities in the US and globally, over…
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3MMM | Episode 45: Navigating Conflict
Conflict in ministry is hard. It is hard because it often feels personal. It is hard because it can evoke feelings like anger, self-doubt, fear or shame, feelings that are unpleasant to digest. And it is hard because change of…
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3MMM | Episode 28: Thinking Theologically
Thinking theologically. I left my own seminary experience thinking this new way of thinking is one of the most important things I learned in the last few years. And it probably was. One class in particular helped me solidify the…
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3MMM | Episode 21: Practicing Resurrection
It’s Eastertide! This joyful season is a continuation of our celebrations from Easter Sunday. For seven weeks each year the church observes a season of Eastertide. The scriptures focus on the resurrection stories of Jesus. I grew up in a…
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Eastertide II
Practicing Resurrection B Last week I sent off final proofs on some devotions for Upper Room’s Disciplines 2015. My chosen theme for the week following Easter next year is practicing resurrection. I won’t be sharing what I wrote for Upper Room here…
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Practicing Resurrection A Eastertide is the season of the church year that we observe from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday. In the coming 50 days, I’ll be unfolding a new series called “Practicing Resurrection.” I wrote about Wendell Berry’s injunction to “practice resurrection” last summer. As…
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Ordinary Time VII
Planting Sequoias Last week I traveled to the Northwestern U.S., land of giant sequoias and redwoods. I’ve been thinking about sequoias this summer, thanks to my congregation’s shared “Season of Green” during Ordinary Time. The first Sunday of Pentecost we…
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Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman are My Neighbors On Saturday night I went downtown. I felt safe and happy walking through an urban center and meeting up with friends for dinner. When I arrived home from the evening out, I…
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Cry of Absence The mornings are so hot already. It’s only June. But heat + humidity = heat index of unbearable. I rolled out early to run this morning. Wednesdays rarely hold any exercise. Full days followed by church and…
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For me this week, which ends the church year, also marks coming around full circle in a year of blogging. I began with Advent last year. So this week I will take time to read through all 93 entries of the past year. Except for a six week sabbath in July and August, I blogged twice weekly. I will be noticing themes, ideas, patterns, and even things that are missing.
Read MoreEaster IX
Tomorrow Pentecost begins. The birthday of the church! At my church we’ll wear red and celebrate the coming of the Spirit with wind and fire and bells. But right now it is the last day of Eastertide. On Good Friday, April 2, our family and some friends spent a good portion of the day putting in a quarter acre garden. The Great Flood of Nashville hit a month later May 1-3. We suffered very little damage to personal property. With the exception of the garden. It was under eight-to-ten feet of water for most of two days. And it was pretty well destroyed.
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