There is a great quote attributed to Jacob Nordby, the author of Blessed are the Weird: “Blessed are the weird people – the poets and misfits, the artists, the writers and music makers, the dreamers and the outsiders – for they force us to see the world differently.” It is the gift of square pegs in […]
This season of Lent, we are exploring Dark Wood moments in our lives that most often we prefer to avoid, but ultimately can’t, because they are part of what it means to be human. This morning we explore the gift of emptiness. Do you remember the nursery rhyme Old Mother Hubbard? Old Mother Hubbard went […]
In almost every archetype of the Hero’s Journey, the protagonist becomes lost or disoriented at some point. Most Disney movies include this archetype: The Lion King, Moana, Aladdin. Many of these stories also feature the Dark Wood. In Beauty & the Beast, the castle is buried deep in a Dark Wood. In Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy […]
When was the last time we had a good thunder & lightning storm in the PNW? We’ve had windy days, but we don’t get many storms with thunder & lightning – so when it happens – it’s exciting to count the seconds between the strikes of lightning and claps of thunder to determine how close […]
Some of you may be familiar with the Irish poet David Whyte who now lives on Bainbridge Island. Angie and I had the opportunity to hear him speak and read his poetry two years ago in Tacoma. At one point in his life, David Whyte was working for a non-profit and at a cross-roads in […]
During this season of Lent we will be considering the Gifts of the Dark Woods and the experiences of those times in life when God can feel far away. Times of feeling lost, uncertainty, when life drops out beneath us, and ultimately finding God in places we wouldn’t imagine. They are often places that we […]
In the book “Gifts of the Dark Wood: Seven Blessings for Soulful Skeptics & other Wanderers” Eric Elnes writes: You have a place in this world where awkwardness dissolves and you are most fully alive, most fully human. You know this place very well, though you may feel far from it. You may not always […]
The past two Sundays, we have been in conversation with two contemporary authors – Anne Lamott in her book Help, Thanks, Wow: the 3 Essential Prayers and Brian McLaren’s book Naked Spirituality, A Life with God in 12 Simple Words. We have explored our relationship with God by crying out for HELP and expressing our […]
We are on a 3 week-journey looking at 3 essential prayers and spiritual practices to awaken ourselves to a meaningful life with God. Today we look at The Spiritual Practice of Thanks: the practice of gratitude and appreciation. The Practice of Awakening to the Goodness of God. During this last year of the pandemic, […]
In her book HELP. THANKS. WOW: The Three Essential Prayers, Anne Lamott speaks of prayer as “Communication from the heart to that which surpasses understanding. Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The […]