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Scripture: Matthew 22:36-40   “Our present idea of freedom is only the freedom to do as we please: to sell ourselves for a high salary, a home in the suburbs, and idle weekends. But that is a freedom dependent upon affluence, which is in turn dependent upon the rapid consumption of exhaustible supplies. The other…

“Courage is grace under pressure.” ― Ernest Hemingway   I don’t know when or why I decided grace was a soft posture but somewhere along the line, early if I’m honest, I did. I decided that grace wore gauzy sundress in pastel colors and traipsed carefree through fields of flowers. I decided grace wore ribbons…

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.”  – Thomas Merton   “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry…

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:11-13   I’m struggling with words right now. 2020 had been a challenging year already, disappointments and unknowns and stressors of all sorts drawing me to an alternative lenten practice.   Gratitude. Vision. Hope. Courage. Nourish. Notice.   The things that I grieved a week ago seem like such faint shadows to…

Wilderness and desert are often motifs that are evoked during Lent. They are spaces of transformation, of reform. For the people of Israel, the time spent wandering in the wilderness was a time of learning how to live as people who are free. How do we live as people centered around the love of God…

Scripture: Exodus 1:15-21 “Hope presupposes the future will be better. I don’t know if I believe that but I believe we must try to make it better…Shining a light on the darkness into which I am proceeding gives other people light to see by, even if we are stumbling down the same dark path of…

Scripture: Hebrews 11:1 When I planned out Lent-ish, I had no idea that I would be writing reflections on hope during a global pandemic. I knew it would be difficult to fast from criticism and cynicism because of my personality, but I had no idea it would be so challenging based on the events in…

“Hope is the act of wanting something to happen or to be true…Hope gives us strength to resist, to take action.”  – Anita Cameron, Resistance and Hope    “Where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away…And now these three remain:…

Today ends our week of focusing on vision. Saying what you’re “for” instead of only what you’re against. Holding out an idea of a hopeful future as you journey through seasons of lament. Because sometimes the seeds of what is to come are planted in the dungheap we’re facing in any given moment. And as…