Leanne Shawler, Artist

OK, I know this is not particularly cool to post twice in one day, but tough. I managed to Pin God First (led by Jennifer Dukes Lee) every day this month (of November) except one day when I had an early business meeting. How did it go? Well, even though I light candles at my home altar and pray ... my mind managed to whirl and drift and for the most part it was pretty frustrating. I thought my brain would be more quiet, somehow, that I'd hear God more or at least sense the Divine. I was thinking that maybe what I need to do is a month of Anglican rosarying (I'm sure that isn't a word) first thing in the morning to empty out my brain but instead, today, I put together a schedule for myself to continue the lectio divina practice through December. I thought it'd be neat to share it here in case, you know, you wanted to too. The names in parentheses are for audio meditations. Todd shares audio lectio divina meditations at Lectio Divina (When in Doubt ). I haven...

We're on the precipice. It's Advent, the start of a new year. We're on the precipice like Mary was two thousand and fourteen years and eight months ago or thereabouts. Two thousand and fourteen years and eight months ago a young girl said yes to God and received the answer to her prayers, to her people's prayers. She stepped way out of her comfort zone because of what God promised. To her relative, she sings this. She is carrying the unborn Messiah, the one who will free Israel from the Empire, from the oppressive monarchy that has impoverished her people, her family, her father, herself. A Davidic Messiah. A Messiah like King David who defeated the Philistines and set Israel into its Golden Age. We can look back at that moment two thousand and fourteen years and eight months ago and think: boy, did she get that wrong. But how wrong did she get it really? Her son was quite the unexpected Messiah.  She saw the path ahead as straight, no...

icon I wrote last year I will finally be blogging a series on Mary's Magnificat for this Advent. (I am also thinking about #AdventWord , the only reason I joined Instagram a couple of weeks ago.) I think I first talked about doing this blog series a couple of years ago after I led a series with fellow bloggers on the Prayer Attributed to St. Francis . The Magnificat is a song about so much, I didn't know where to start. It's so hard to get my head around. So I put it off. Today I made a start on the first post for the series, but looking ahead, given the grand jury decision in Ferguson that I just heard about ... I don't know how I can write about this without coming off as ridiculously white-privileged. It's a song of joy. It's a song celebrating the Messiah's impending arrival. It's a song of freedom coming, long hoped for. Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to say. I don't know if I'm going to say it right. So I inv...

These are stories that made me think this past month. How Hema Ramaswamy found healing through traditional dance (NPR) If you can't say it about Jesus, don't say it about God by Scot McKnight at Patheos " Enough": Demand a Plan for an end to gun violence: video on Upworthy Permission to Boast by Jennifer Dukes Lee (part of the Pin God First challenge she's leading and that I'm participating in.) From Oprah's site Something to try this Advent (starting November 30): Anglicans invited to 'celebrate Advent using their phones' from the Episcopal Digital Network . And last but not least, the r ather brilliant feminist twist on quotes from " The Princess Bride" (found on BuzzFeed ).

(just so there's a picture) Gospel this Sunday:   Matthew 25:14-30 Diana Butler Bass posted yesterday on Facebook that she has been preaching on these Matthean parables as she visits churches and speaks at conferences and that that has really transformed her understanding of them. And after I asked her if she would consider releasing those sermons, I thought: "wait a minute, haven't I been doing the same thing?" I went back and looked at my posts on these "the kingdom is like" parables. I found I didn't like a single one of them, that they didn't fit my theology, that I had to dig deeper. I identify with the third slave who buried the money he's been given. I don't like the whole judgeyness. Again. And I've realized that what I've had to dig deeper past is my theology, that I am so quick to believe that God is Judgemental and Mean, even though I profess to believe in a God of love. Remnants of a theology t...

After missing one day on the P in God First challenge , Thursday I got back into it but the NRSV of Psalm 37:7 didn't resonate even a little bit. So I went to the next verse and this poem/reflection resulted. be still the psalm says I try and end up itchy -- antsy -- a mind-racing failure  be still the psalm says like a forested pond smooth glass life teems hidden skims the surface is that really still? A trout crashes upward, Pirouettes a response To an unseen call Step down to the shore Taste flowing waters, Life-giving Being still Is not becoming stone. To soften, give, respond, Some movement Is required Yeah, I don't have forested ponds where I live. I've seen them back east though...

Romans 2:29: "Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God." During lectio divina, the phrase that resonated was "a matter of the heart". One is usually passionate about a matter of the heart. The phrase also evokes emotional responses.  I did wonder if the Greek had been mistranslated, as so often "heart" is substituted for "gut".  A matter of the gut, where instinct and intuition dwells. Today we talk about having a gut feeling. It's kind of primal, visceral.  If gut is what is really meant, the "real circumcision" Paul talks of is that the Way of God has taken residence deep in our being, within our cells. It means we respond to the world instinctively with God's love and compassion rather than with the mind working out the law. And yes, I'm aware of th...

(BTW, the Pin God First challenge is still on track.) The gospel for this Sunday is  Matthew 25:1-13 . This parable is of the foolish and wise bridesmaids seems to preach an exclusion that I don't care for (aka doesn't fit my theology). What to do then? How to reconcile the ending of unprepared foolish bridesmaids being left outside, strangers to the kingdom of heaven? Commentators (I read a bunch this week) pontificated on the audience that the author of Matthew was writing for, apparently struggling not only to distinguish themselves from what was becoming rabbinic Judaism, but from those who truly waited for Christ's coming and those who said they did, but didn't mean it and recanted when persecution came their way. Fine. But this theory is why the historical Jesus Seminar says this isn't really a Jesus saying. And while that may be true, that seems like an excuse. Sorry. This isn't the first time in the Bible that there has bee...

This morning I lit candles, having added some to my home altar space, quietly chanting in my mind and settled down to the day's lectio divina, which took about 15 minutes.  On the 2nd, the Scripture selection was 1 Thessalonians 1:4 and the phrase that resonated was "please God". Not to gain favor with God, but as a response to God. Yesterday, it was Matthew 5:11, a verse from the Beatitudes, which I'd heard as part of Sunday's readings for All Saints. The phrase that resonated "Blessed are you". Explored that as gratitude and then got sidetracked by thoughts of work. (Just in case you thought this was easy for me.) Lectio completed, I set a timer and pulled out Feasting on the Word and the Jewish Annotated New Testament , thinking to write a belated "blogging the lectionary" post. Maybe tomorrow. I've asked for some Hebrew assistance, so I'll get back to you on that. Maybe. The effect of pinning God first t...

Pin God 1st - from Jennifer Dukes Lee's site The first piece of Scripture for the Pin God First challenge is Matthew 10:39: Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. The phrase which came to me was "find your life" (and that's not even correct, it's "find their life"). I delved into the context, as this is toward the end of Jesus talking about loving God first above all else, even family, taking up the cross and leaving all behind. Last night, my hubby and I went to see "The Good Lie" which has Reese Witherspoon in the supporting cast. It's about the lost children of Sudan and their long journey to America. It broke my heart twice -- because it's a recent release I won't reveal the spoilers -- so let's just say it was an incredibly unjust moment and a beautiful heart/soul moment. Tears kept welling up on the way home and this movie disturbed me. Disturbed me in ...