Good morning... This spring, amid the Corona mayhem, we received a large manilla envelop addressed to me. I looked inside to find a stack of letters wearing my handwriting, letters I had written from our new home in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania reaching out to my long long time friend in Mableton, Georgia. The first letter in the pile [...]
Good morning... Pictured above is a framed print I recently brought home from a fascinating yard sale. Somehow it feels like a self-portrait of me looking into the mirror of our multifaceted God, the living body of Christ. The thread running through the colorful minds of these partial people reminds me of the rich tapestry of healing love [...]
Good morning... Every August since 1995, my husband Steve has started a new school year as a chaplain at The Lovett School (minus our brief, beloved stint in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania from 2001-2003). Hands down, this August has been the most unusual, unsettling beginning of school, ever. Unable to gather all the upper school students in the chapel [...]
Good morning... As communities across our globe are gathering together to pray for healing, I want to tell you a story about a growing prayer garden planted in the heart of our small town community. To do so, I pull out my phone and scroll back on a string of texts that began on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. "Hi [...]
Good morning... My heart was touched by the words of one faithful mom. Through glassy eyes of grief, Jacob Blake's mother, Julia, spoke words of healing. Healing for her only son who was left paralyzed after being shot several times in the back. Healing for the police officers involved and their hurting families. Healing for all citizens and [...]
Good morning... Photos like the one above capture a different day in time, when we could gather, meet up close, connect face to face as the body of Christ. As we consider what it means to "be the church" when many church buildings remain closed due to COVID, we wrestled with an important question posed in yesterday's post, [...]
Good morning... Last week a church friend for over twenty-five years sent me the following article. At first reading, I loved it. Over time, I began to wrestled with it. Now I invite you into my soul-searching question, "What is church?" ****** Excerpt from When Church Is Not Bound by Four Walls posted on August 16th, 2020 If church [...]
Good morning... The photo above drew in my attention, so I included it in our post from yesterday, Grieving With God. The peaceful lake. The inviting hammock. The grey, hazy feel. The ripped up jeans. The silence, the solitude. The quiet passage of time needed for God to transform a grieving heart. To me, the photo spoke volumes [...]
Good morning... Amid the turmoil of a powerful pandemic, years of racial injustice, and economic and political upheaval, how are you and I to be the church when many church doors are closed? As the living body of Christ in our hurting world, where do we begin? Refreshing young artist Danielle Coke brings to life Fredrick Buechner's [...]
Good morning... Many of you have written to me about how much you miss church. We miss entering the beloved building. We miss worshipping and learning, socializing and serving together. We miss cozying up in the warmth of our timeless traditions and bonding as Christ's body with God and each other. Still many church doors remain closed as [...]
