As a personal spiritual discipline of late, I have been taking improv comedy classes at the Dallas Comedy House. In improv class we begin with a few warm-ups. They move the body and get the blood flowing, they help lower our defenses and embrace the playfulness of the environment, they get us engaged. They help us practice saying yes, being present, and supporting one another.
Read MoreI thought of the many times I had puzzled over the ancient Sunday Gospel Reading Cycle. I had prayed the cycle for many years; I found it deeply meaningful and loved it profoundly.
Read MoreMatthew’s gospel was written to the Messianic Jews of Antioch two to five years after the destruction of the Great Temple of Jerusalem and the massacre of all its priests. The Temple, its rules and priests had represented the center of their lives, and now many were certain that God had abandoned them.
Read MoreEyes blinded by tears—more than that—blinded by fear, blinded by dreams crushed as fine as the dust under her feet as she walks.
Read MoreThe Ahadi Collective hosted a Meet the Makers event on Memorial Day weekend to engage with the community and share their work, products, and stories. Promotion began weeks before through multiple avenues and platforms.
Read MoreThe highest point on the island of Iona is a peak called Dùn I (I = “ee”). While this climb, and the accompanying 360 degree island view, is available to anyone, pilgrims climb it as part of their pilgrimage around the island. It serves as a celebration point, a mountaintop moment, for it can be difficult to scale, and even harder, sometimes, to then find your way back down.
Read MoreFor the space at the table
We celebrate and give thanks
For the stories that arrive
Important to be heard
For the bellies and hearts that come hungry
Hoping to be filled
To set the table is to commit to grace.
A set table implies a willingness to believe that our needs will be met.
At the table, the nutritional needs of the body will be supplied by the production of the earth.
Read MoreThe great promise of the table is that we are invited to join in holy community/communion with family.
Read MoreFor those who take the time to come to the table, both for ritual and for meal, the community of God is nourishing. It brings health. This is not always happiness. Just ask anyone who has ever come to the table hoping for cake and found cauliflower. Sometimes community requires patience, love, endurance, imagination, and courage. But, in return, Jesus promises nourishment.
Read MoreIn the sacrament of table and community, there lies the healing power of presence and the movement of the Spirit.
Read MoreTwo years ago, my second child told me she didn’t want to get married. I paused the dishwashing I was doing, suspicious that there was a reason she felt compelled to announce this. After a little digging I discovered that she didn’t want to get married because she didn’t want to have children because...
Read MoreThree ladies have prepared the food, two from Syria and one from Iran. They’ve been in The Mix Kitchen for the afternoon, preparing for this meal. A tasty assortment of rice, marvelously seasoned meat, fried kibbeh, and a light mix of greens; we are preparing to feast on this Tuesday afternoon.
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Read MoreHow does a missional mindset or perspective impact the way we read Scripture?
How does the Bible speak to and through a missional disciple?
And seriously, what kind of God is God?
I am not a table setter. I want to be. I really like having a place set for me. I like the sense of sitting down with everything I might need within reach. I like the sense that there was one who went before me, anticipating those needs. I like the sense that I might meet the needs of those at my table.
Read MoreIt’s 12:00pm:
I’m finally sitting down to return overdue emails, write a nearly overdue article, and slog through a grant outline. Maybe I’ll have time to get part of one of these tasks done in the hour I don’t have anything planned today and can simultaneously inhale a sandwich.
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When I think of the things that consistently draw me into relationship with Jesus, and those things that have been anchor points for that relationship throughout my life, the notion of table fellowship is beyond doubt the most consistent theme throughout my life.
Read MoreI also took the time to share the MWF vision to construct a switchback herb garden that will be wheelchair accessible and allow people of all abilities to garden as they used the path to enter the basement below.
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Songs have this amazing ability to stick with us...
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