Martial Art and Spiritual Discipline

In honor of my belt test this evening, I'm reflecting on why I enjoy my new-found sport of Taekwondo. I started over the summer because, after months of watching Arianna do it, I thought it looked like fun. I've found it's so much more than that. I took dance lessons as a child and young…

On Veteran’s Day

Yesterday afternoon, a 35-year-old veteran died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the middle of the Occupy Burlington encampment in City Park (read/view the stories from the local news and the AP). While many have been quick to rush to judgements and political statements about the occupy movement, my colleague Mark reminds us not to…

Sermon-ish Thing: The True Act of God

As Hurricane Irene stomped her way up through Vermont on Sunday, people in Montpelier were urged to stay in their homes if possible, and my lay leader, guest preacher, and I made the decision to cancel the worship service at Trinity UMC. I did, however, record a video message and upload it to the church's…

I do not think it means what you think it means…

I went to bed last night. My husband, awake an hour earlier than I this morning, was the one who told me that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. operatives. I read the headlines and watched the President's speech, and skimmed through Twitter, and began to develop a nasty, sickly feeling in my…

Because you had a bad day

Today is a rough day. In the past 24 hours, waves of loss and worry have swept the world-- the world out there and the world closer to home. As with any disasters, personal or global or anywhere in between, I feel a bit at a loss under the weight of all that pain and…

poem for a hate group leader

Fred, Fred. One day it'll happen. I don't know when or how, but then none of us ever do. Perhaps you'll be blessed enough to die of old age. Or maybe disease will consume you, or the poison you spew take an inward toll. Or maybe, tragically, a grief-stricken family member at a funeral-turned-protest will…

Prayer after violence

We are all broken people. Comments offered at prayer time in church for those involved-- victims, survivors, and perpetrator-- in the violence in Arizona.

Of darkness and discourse, culpability and connection

I try to refrain from being overtly political on my blog, but politics and theology (and ministry especially) are intimately linked, and the attempted murder of a Congresswoman, by definition, is a political issue. These are my rough thoughts following the massacre in Arizona, which took the lives of six people, and wounded 12 more,…

Fasting as a Means of Grace

I have a couple people in my church with whom I'm working through the beginning exploration of the candidacy process, and with one of them, we are up to the section of the "purple book" that talks about means of grace. And we began an honest conversation about fasting. I'm not a good person to…

A Call to #OurExamen

In the couple weeks since the #pastors24 project, I've been thinking about how to foster the community and reflection that I experienced during that day. I want to invite you, my colleagues and friends, to an ongoing practice of examen, shared on Twitter with the hashtag #ourexamen. As I wrote in the earlier post: It…