Given that we are closing in on the climax and conclusion of Lent and, additionally, that in this morning’s devotion we looked at Jesus’ cry of dereliction, I found this meditation on the relationship between faith, doubt, and struggle by Brené Brown both interesting and helpful. Referencing the spiritual awakening (slash, mental breakdown) she described in her breakthrough TED Talk, Brené confides that she went to church to find comfort. Instead, she found challenge. “Church wasn’t an epidural, it was a midwife. It just stood next to me and said ‘Push, it’s supposed to hurt a bit.’” (One of the more quotable quotes I’ve...

Liturgy in the church is a foretaste of the eternal song of praise, an earthly expression of that which is the content of eternity and the basic melody of creation, a never ending thanksgiving to the Creator and Father of all things.  Within its earthly poverty Liturgy contains something of the beauty of the heavenly, the blessed sense of the nearness of the Eternal, and the joy of being privileged to sacrifice everything in order to be one with Christ. –Bo Giertz What we commonly call worship is also regularly named “liturgy.” That word comes from two Greek words: “laos,” meaning people; and “orgia,” meaning work. In...

I thought this short video was a perfect counter point to, or maybe extension, of yesterday’s post – and comments! – about beauty. Chris Heuertz has spent his life working with the poorest of the poor and, most recently, working with children, women, and men who have been caught up in and abused by human trafficking. You can read more about him and his work at Word Made Flesh and on his blog – great title, btw – If I Blogged…. But he’s not just about advocacy or even help. He’s mostly about community, about living with and helping people fashion resilient communities that have weathered the difficult moments that any real...

A few weeks ago we had a great discussion about prayer. What it is, what we believe about it, what we don’t understand, what we do, how we practice it, and more. I learned a lot from it and am still mulling it over. Shortly after that, I came upon this interview with Richard Rohr. Richard is a Franciscan monk and author of numerous books, including the recent Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life and Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self. I really appreciated Richard’s view that prayer can be anything – anything done in a state of communion and connection. Communion and connection with God, with others, and...