Those of us trained as faith leaders are facing a particular kind of new stress. We’re facing all the same challenges and fears that all our parishioners are carrying. But the very things we have been trained to do in crises are now off-limits. … More Anything that is not about care can wait
As faith communities change how they operate to respond to calls for social distancing, faith formation does not need to stop. Here are some tools you can access right now to keep people connected to God and each other, from home. … More Staying connected with God and each other, from home
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is a potential crisis in Minnesota, and we’re wise to prepare as such.
But it’s also an opportunity to revisit, again, what giftedness and creativity our faith communities can offer back to the world. … More 10 ways to respond creatively to anxiety about COVID-19
All of it is discipleship, all of it is formation, all of it is apprenticing people into something. There is a message in your method, whether you intend it or not. … More The message in the method
Rather than letting fear drive our ways of gathering, we can choose to bring our faith, our critical thinking and our values of hospitality to our life together, with best practices and tools that can shape our shared life in the way of Jesus. … More Safety, fear, and love
When our primary orientation toward power is that it’s not ours to wield, we abdicate our own responsibility for the culture and content around us. And today, All Saints Day, is a good time to remember the power each one of us carries – whether positional power is involved or not. … More All Saints: Let’s talk about power
Rather than pursuing more formation-as-entertainment, invite your community into one conversation with multiple access points. Friends, The other evening, with a matter of Actual Interpersonal Significance on my mind, I found myself doing just about anything to avoid addressing it. The weather. The news. Every other app on my phone (already relatively free of social … More Focus: One Conversation, Many Ways To Join In
Last week when I met a friend for coffee, she showed up wearing a t-shirt she had gotten at an Ani DiFranco concert. It said, “The world owes me nothing. We owe each other the world.” This is true for us who follow the way of Jesus, my friends. It’s language from one of our … More In for the Long Haul
The mission opportunity (read: ECMN learning goal) for the year might look so tidy, and some of it so familiar, that you could think to yourself, “Oh, this looks on brand.” But it’s a massive theological statement boiled into one line. … More Unpacking ‘the way of love’
We cannot reasonably expect a bishop to do for us what we are not willing to do ourselves. … More Meeting Bishop X as Partners
There’s long work in the seed that has to die before it can sprout – even longer work going from seed to a plant big enough to shelter the birds. … More The Long Work of New Life
Here’s an invitation, then, for your Advent practice: Attend to your memories of joy and liberation. … More Memory as a practice of hope
Faith formation means experiencing beloved community, and practicing building it with others. … More Formed by and for Beloved Community
At the beginning of a yoga class, often the instructor will ask students to take a moment and set an intention for their practice. Sometimes that means dedicating the practice to a person or a cause. Sometimes that means having an internal intention — seeking to be aware of one’s breath, or choosing to be … More What’s your intention for this year?
Wherever you are in your own journey of healing and transformation, you are invited to join with others in the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement, offering your self — your gifts and flaws and skills and delight — in harmony with the Holy Spirit’s work in the world … More Become what you receive
This is evangelism: Speaking clearly about why Jesus is good news, about your experience of faith, and – perhaps most importantly – about how you live because of it. … More This is what (good) evangelism looks like
“Christians are not optimists. No. Rather, we choose to see hope where there is no hope.” On a pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine in 2010, I heard these words from a former bishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal. He had earned the right to speak boldly about ‘where … More Hope where there is no hope
We can be hubs for courageous innovation when we trust that God has given us the freedom and the will to do something new. … More Even now, creativity and freedom
Friends, here are three key questions for your faith community to wrestle with in the wake of the recent events in Virginia. We’ve offered some resources that we hope will support you as you pray through these issues together. 1) What’s the long work your faith community is doing to build beloved community in your … More White Supremacy and Your Faith Community: Three Questions to Consider
Last week, at the Rethinking Church conference at Luther Seminary, we heard a speaker offer this nugget of wisdom attributed to a fighter pilot: “In the moment of crisis, we don’t rise to the occasion. We revert to our training. That’s why we train so much.” In the midst of rapid-fire news, the constant barrage … More Practicing love over fear
