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
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.
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.
Pep Talk for Pastors
The thing is my friend, you were made for such a time as this (cf. Esther). And you have exactly what you need to pastor and preach and plan and lead, right now.
What Are You Giving Up?
Too often I hear people refer to Lent as a punitive season. A time for denying ourselves and bemoaning all the ways we aren’t good enough in our personal and spiritual lives. As if the purpose is to own up to all the ways we believe we are disappointing God.
What Do You Need to Unlearn?
When you unlearn something, it doesn’t leave you. We transcend and include. It is a process of evolving and maturing. It is, surprise, a process of becoming.
We Are All Late Bloomers
Grief invites us to pay attention. This has been my experience. That was when I began to see this process of becoming. I don’t just mean when a person dies. I mean when by choice, or by circumstance, we accept something has ended. It has run its course. A relationship, a career, a part of our body. When we lean into letting go and soften our resistance to what must change.
What Story Do You Need to Share?
“You need to be more vulnerable. Do you know what I mean?”
Do I?! Ha! Yes, vulnerability is what I’m “certified” to teach! You’ve got to love the divine irony of the Universe. She is a comedian.
Gathering with Gratitude
Holidays come with a plateful of preparations and expectations smothered in a gravy of “shoulds.” Upending regular routines brings some anxiety. To practice wholehearted living, here are five gratitude practices to get you through.
Best Boss Advice. Ever.
The 3 insights from my favorite bosses and mentors changed my life and perspective, and they can do the same for you, too.
Who Doesn’t Love a Good Mystery?
If God loves everyone, invites everyone, welcomes everyone into a relationship of belovedness and belonging, why do so many of us have a story of being made to feel like we don’t belong at church?
Start Coaching Your Inner Critic
Does your inner critic chatter, like, ALL THE TIME? Having an inner critic is a part of being human. Enlist your INNER COACH to take charge and calm your critic down.
Love Who You Are Becoming: God Does!
Perennial wisdom which resonates in new ways at different points in one’s life. My recap of Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, And Believe.
Knit Together as Saints
Whenever I’ve attended a clergy conference, retreat, workshop, delegation, convention, you name it – there are clusters of collars, knitting. Someone in your pews needs to be reminded of an experience, a person stitched into their heart.
Displaced Anxiety
We are all, individuals and institutions alike, reluctant to wrestle with, let alone expose, the dark stuff inside. What shared shadows keep us from reaching out for our neighbor, or ourselves?
Build a Container
If you want to walk out of your next meeting feeling like you were an effective & productive leader, begin with these 4 key questions. Whatever your title, you will be fostering community, building relationships, and modeling the heart of a leader who cares about her people.
Becoming a Daring Way Facilitator: Part 1
The smile in that photo was a breakthrough, the day before had been filled with tears. Life is always becoming - a back and forth between tears and smiles, hellos and goodbyes, grief and joy, which in so many ways is what The Daring Way(TM) is all about.
Love Prompts Me to Preach
Love is my prompt, every time I preach. It’s the one sermon I feel I preach again and again. Even though you and I know they are all different. In this new space I want to prompt myself and prompt you in your preaching!
