October has never been my favorite month. It always opens with such promise and warmth, and then ends with a blustery quickness that is downright abrasive.
Formations 08.30.2020: The Gift of Laughter
August 23, 2020 by
Infertility is no laughing matter. One of my friends suffered through years of pain, expensive infertility treatments, marital stress, and pregnancy loss before she and her husband finally agreed to take a break from trying to have a child.
Formations 01.14.2018: Pagan Is as Pagan Does
January 7, 2018 by
Members of one damselfish species identify their enemies through facial patterns that can only be seen in ultraviolet light. In 2010, Ulrike Siebeck of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia found that Ambon damselfish could tell their own species from another just by interpreting these markings, which are invisible to the human eye.
In Pursuit of the Spirit: God in the Midst
February 10, 2016 by
We hear about or meet people who meditate for forty-five minutes each morning in total silence, people who spend half an hour in prayer every day, or read their Bible regularly, and those of us with busy lives, and busy minds, think wouldn’t that be nice?
In Pursuit of the Spirit: Practicing Lent
March 11, 2015 by
I’m in the process of (slowly) reading The Art of Family and Everyday Spirituality by Gina Bria. I’m not very far along, but the way in which Bria speaks about the role of family has captured my imagination.
In Pursuit of the Spirit: A New Year’s Practice
January 13, 2015 by
I don’t like New Year’s resolutions. Nope, never mind, that’s a lie. I love New Year’s resolutions. I relish the opportunity to dream about beginning new habits that will eventually shape me into a new, improved version of myself.
In Pursuit of the Spirit: Picking Our Way Through Advent
December 3, 2014 by
Our son, Caleb, will turn three a few days after Christmas this year. For the first two years of his life, we didn’t worry too much about holiday traditions, recognizing that he was too little to understand or remember much.
In Pursuit of the Spirit: Spiritual Formation with Toddlers (Or Lectio in Nature)
October 7, 2014 by
After a freezing first winter in Chicago (frequently described as Chiberia), and bipolar summer (hot and humid one day, cold and rainy the next), I am feeling particularly grateful for the beautiful fall we’ve been having recently.
In Pursuit of the Spirit: The Search for Sabbath in a Busy Life
September 9, 2014 by
I recently started working at a local church as their Church School Coordinator, and while the job will soon be just ten hours a week, for the past three weeks it has been closer to forty hours a week.
In Pursuit of the Spirit: Spirituality and Politics
August 6, 2014 by
Our church community has been struggling with questions of spirituality and politics over the past few months. At our most recent General Assembly, the Presbyterian Church (USA) made some controversial decisions.
Crossroads: When What God Tells You Seems Crazy – Sarah
July 14, 2014 by
I think that God loves the element of surprise. He loves to do unexpected and, at times, seemingly impossible things. And usually when God shares these things with us, the things He wants us to do, they seem crazy.
In Pursuit of the Spirit
July 8, 2014 by
For a period of time, I owned the domain www.holygoosepoop.com. Although I never did anything with it, and I eventually let it lapse, I thought it would make a good site for a spirituality blog.
Children in Worship: Worship for Children (Part I)
June 17, 2014 by
An off-hand comment a mom made has me thinking about children and worship. In passing, this mom shared that she has trouble getting her kids to worship when there’s no Sunday school because they get bored.