Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up (1 Cor 8:1). I write and I preach to strengthen people's faith in love. Let’s face it, I write and preach to strengthen MY faith in love. Faith that you are not defined only by what you do or what you’ve done. But the WHOLE of you. Your experiences, your stories, are your wisdom. The more you tap into that wisdom the more you will discover and embrace who you are becoming.
I’ve tried to organize the posts - the lovely circles - by the topics that inform my preaching, coaching and teaching. I hope the experiences, stories, and wisdom shared here, prompt some supportive insights of your own.
All Articles
Do A New Thing
I started a podcast - Feeling Beings Who Think - and this is one of the reasons why.
Claim Your Arena
The arena is where we want to show up, be seen and live brave. Hard work! That why naming our arenas matters.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Job.
“Are you there, God?” That’s a question asked again and again in scripture and in the stories of our time - like teen fiction! Because it’s a question most of us can relate to.
You Are Enough
You are enough! I find it easy to agree but hard to internalize. That’s why I wear it and preach it and share it because I think lots of us struggle with faith in our enoughness, too.
Three Tips to Get Motivated
Three tips for getting started or giving yourself a break if you seek some motivation.
FAQs
Arianne Rice’s answers to the most frequently asked questions about coaching.
How People Tell Us Who They Are
My sister ended her life in 2014. Anthony Bourdain in 2018. The same week, you remember, as Kate Spade. That was the first Sunday I was able to speak about my sister's death in a sermon.
Say This to Your Inner Critic
Every day, your inner critic has your inner ear. We get so used to her that we forget just how much she influences what we do, what we say, and what we think.
Problem-Solving With People We Find Problematic
We’re human. But frustration won’t move us forward. So how do you problem-solve with people you’d rather not work with at all? How do you find a solution with someone you feel you have nothing in common with? How do you move towards solutions together instead of getting entrenched on opposing sides?
Embrace Your Doubts
Doubt is a hand being raised by your heart and head saying, “Hello from in here! Can we talk with you, because we have some concerns?”
Vulnerability is risk, uncertainty, and emotional exposure. So, doubt, like vulnerability, is hard to feel. But if that hard (and heart) feeling place is also the birthplace of joy, love, belonging, faith, all the good stuff, then don’t we need to pay attention to our doubts?
Move Forward With Curiosity, Compassion, Conversation
Without curiosity we would never learn to crawl, let alone walk. But as we grow we tend to abandon our innate inquisitiveness in favor of certainty. Curiosity is risky (it killed the cat, right?).
Showing up with Intention
I am not a fan of Matthew’s Jesus. Too angry, too punitive, too much gnashing. I can however relate from my own experiences, to that sense of urgency. It’s the urgency of protest. It’s the urgency of now. It’s the urgency of knowing we have this one incredible life too accept a divine invitation we sometimes ignore.
What Are You Striving For?
I have no idea if St. Francis participated in more than one service on a Sunday, somehow I doubt it. This Sunday, St. Francis takes precedence, and yes, I know this is not abiding by our sacrosanct rubrics. But, traditionally, it is one of the most attended Sundays we have in the early fall, because, people love to bring their pets to church. And honestly, I have no problem admitting to the very real pressure I feel to get people to church. I strive.
Questioning Authority
I’m a senior, listening with rapt attention to my academic advisor and the Dean of Students, The Rev. Titus Pressler, preach. Repeatedly, he bangs his hand on the pulpit – exousia, exousia, exousia.
Exploring Envy
Generosity does not come naturally to us. Watch children in a sandbox or siblings at a dinner table or an inpatient infant with her mother. Generosity is taught and like faith, caught.
Living Courageously Together
“In the end, we’ll all become stories.” - Margaret Atwood
So, what is your story? What is the story you want? And what is the story you want others to tell of you?
Give Forward
Too often when we contemplate forgiving we look behind us and not in front. We dwell on what was, instead of choosing to see our agency in turning our gaze. To wildly imagine what could be if we had the courage to let go. Let go of our sense of entitlement, or obligation, or resentment. And, sometimes, hurt and pain. Jesus had to let go of all of that too.
The Great Trinitarian Sadness
When I lived in Durham, NC my therapist was also a nun. What a win-win! I do not remember what prompted it but at one session she told me to read The Shack.
We Are Wired to be One
When I have those conversations, when I’m honest with myself about how hard this is, when I read and pray words of ancient scripture that reflect those underlying emotional realities, despite the difference in time and place, I feel connected to that which is greater than me, the really real. I hear Jesus’ faith that we are one.
You Know the Way
Sacred text, specifically the words of Jesus, enter our ears and hit us in our gut. We resonate immediately with an intuitive and visceral recognition that either rings true, or not. Particularly when we are wrestling with a forever changed reality.
