Discernment is a process. It is about questioning and listening. It is about paying attention to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Discernment is a journey as we move along the path of life and listen to where God is leading and calling us to be at a given time. At times discernment can be a clear straightforward process and at other times it can be muddy and unclear. Filled with doubts and questions if this is really where we…
Foot washing is one of the go to images of diaconal ministry, the image of being servant. Following Jesus example from his last supper with the disciples, kneeling to take the humble position of service. Foot washing is something we are not always the most comfortable with. Bearing our feet for washing is a vulnerable act. In a normal year not everyone likes to show off their feet, let alone have them touched and washed by another person. This past year where we…
We recently marked one year since everything shut down initially here in Idaho. This past year has brought many moments of chaos and uncertainty as we have navigated life through a global pandemic. I often refer to riding the rollercoaster of pandemic life, riding the ups and downs that this year has brought. There are times when the chaos of it all can feel overwhelming and it is hard to see a light at the end of this tunnel. When we are in…
This past year has taught us a lot about how to be in community with those around us in new and different ways. And at times it has shown us some examples of how complicated and difficult it can be to be in community with other people. A year ago when the world as we knew it changed around us due to the pandemic, my job at Shepherd of the Valley shifted a bit in its focus. Working as a youth director my…
We are quickly closing in on a year since the world as we knew it changed out from under us due to a global pandemic. Throughout this year we have ridden the ups and downs of ever changing recommendations and restrictions to how we live our daily lives and how we interact with others. We have lived the ups and downs of mental and emotional exhaustion brought by living through a pandemic. Finding many moments when we feel like we have nothing left…
Being quarantine buddies and spending time at home with Tigress (my cat) I was able to observe her migration around my apartment throughout the day from sunny spot to sunny spot as the sun shifted its location through the day. And as the seasons changed these spots where the sun came in changed and so did her sleeping spots. In a conversation with my spiritual director I reflected on this. We talked about how God shows up in different ways in different seasons,…
Back in April I adopted a cat. At the beginning of our time together she was very shy, and who could blame her. Who wouldn’t be a bit timid when you have had your surrounding change multiple times within the span of a month or two? At the beginning of our journey Tigress taught me that mutuality and a ministry of presence are not only important parts of my diaconal formation and ministry, but are also an important part of adopting a pet…
We journey through this Advent season with COVID cases being on the rise across the country. With the country and our state setting new case and death numbers almost every day and at an alarming rate. We journey through Advent in the midst of a global pandemic that has hopefully made us realize how interconnected we all are as a people and a planet. We journey through Advent, the season of waiting and watching, waiting for approval of a vaccine, watching how people…
In mid-October I traveled back to Valparaiso, Indiana for my small in-person Consecration and while I was there I had the opportunity to worship at the Chapel on Valpo’s campus for Sunday morning worship. It was so nice to hear the beautiful pipe organ and though there was no congregational singing they had cantors in the balcony that led the music. There is one piece of music from that worship that has stuck with me since then, I find myself singing it to…
Community is something that has been hard throughout this time of pandemic and social distancing. But the ways community has still shown up in and through all of this is a testament to the fact that we are beings created in and for community. As Genesis 1:26 says “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.’” We are created in the image of God, and God is the community of the Trinity; God, Christ, and Holy Spirit.…
As we get closer and closer to the election in November my soul is grieving deeply the division and lack of respect for others that politics seems to exude. How we have let ourselves become so divided by party lines that we cannot even have civil conversations with those we disagree with, if we can even talk to them at all. This divisive politics isn’t new, I always dread the TV ads where opponents just seem to disparage each other and not talk…
God brings life out of chaos. This was the theme of my senior thesis paper in college, looking at it through the lens of Ezekiel 37 (the valley of dry bones). It is also a phrase/theme I have heard brought up quite a few times recently as we are living through a time rife with chaos. The chaos of a once a century level global pandemic. The chaos of having new and different responsibilities we did not necessarily ask for (many people now…
In this long season after Pentecost, also called Ordinary Time, the New Testament lessons have been working their way through the book of Romans. About a month ago (July 19th) the reading was from the first part of chapter 8 ending with verses 24-25 “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” I was…
What do you think of when you hear the word wilderness? For most people they probably think of a location or a place that they have been that may seem isolated or away from “civilization.” A place in the middle of a forest, up a mountain, or maybe even in the middle of the desert. In the United States we even have the National Wilderness Preservation System that helps preserve some of these places from our world of land development. But there is…
Last week I was supposed to be in New York spending some time with my family for my dad’s birthday. When I booked my flight back at the beginning of June, we still had low numbers of new cases in Idaho, I had an e-credit to use from a different cancelled trip from this fall, and flights were as cheap as I have ever seen them to Albany or Syracuse. I booked my flight knowing that things could change and I might not…
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