Wednesday

August 18, 2021

Connecting with Creation

Inspired by stories told by Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, this week's meditation draws us into the reciprocity of our breath with the life of plants.

Wednesday

August 4, 2021

Embodied Prayer

Today we move through the entire journey of embodied prayer, welcoming the Holy Spirit in and turning our selves over to the Lord.

Wednesday

July 28, 2021

Embodied Prayer

Join me on the second stop on our journey of experiencing a new form of prayer, as we learn to pull our selves together into a single energetic focal point.

Wednesday

July 7, 2021

Embodied Prayer

Beginning with experiencing our breath and entering into a calm center, we begin an exploration of embodied prayer.

Wednesday

June 23, 2021

Contemplative Prayer

Join me for a space of quiet, contemplative prayer in the garden with the sound of the breeze and birdsong!

Wednesday

May 12, 2021

Circle Prayers

Circle prayers for healing can be found in the traditions of our local indigenous peoples, Celtic traditions, and the Anglican tradition of a Rogation Procession has elements of establishing boundaries around spaces of healing and protection. This week we walk the bounds of Bethany House and Garden, using a Celtic Circle Prayer.

Wednesday

May 5, 2021

Blessing for a Meditation Garden

At Bethany House and Garden, we are moving from a season of discernment to a season of planting and building. Join me this week as we say a blessing for the Meditation Garden, phase 3 of our garden project. The blessing was taken from Prayers for the Domestic Church by Ed Hays.

Wednesday

April 28, 2021

Prayer for St. Simon’s Chapel

At Bethany House and Garden, we are moving from a season of discernment to a season of planting and building. Join me this week as we consider St. Simon’s Chapel, the proposed outdoor worship space and meditate on the confession from the Sacred Ground curriculum

Wednesday

April 14, 2021

Prayer for a Food Garden

At Bethany House and Garden, we are moving from a season of discernment to a season of planting and building. Join me this week as we consider the proposed culinary garden and meditate on prayers from Prairie Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation by Sam Hamilton-Poore

Wednesday

April 7, 2021

A Prairie Prayer

At Bethany House and Garden, we are moving from a season of discernment to a season of planting and building. Join me this week as we consider the proposed prairie garden and meditate on “A Prairie Prayer” by Hilton R. Greer.

Good Friday

April 2, 2021

A Walk Through Holy Week

Today we meditate on Rosalinda Flores Martinez’ “Stations of the Cross in Poetry” Prayer (the prayer can be found here on PoemHunter)

Holy Saturday

April 3, 2021

A Walk Through Holy Week

Today we close this week’s meditation series with a reflection on the space surrounding Holy Saturday. This is a space where we can sit with our griefs, our losses, our pains at the feet of the fully human Jesus among the dead. We are led in that reflection with the words of Adrienne Von Speyr during her mystic experience with Jesus on Holy Saturday.

Maundy Thursday

April 1, 2021

A Walk Through Holy Week

Today we meditate on “Three Prayers on the Mount of Olives,” from Adrienne Von Speyr’s The Passion from Within, from Ignatius Press 1981.

Wednesday of Holy Week March 31, 2021

A Walk Through Holy Week

Today we walk through the beginning of Holy Week, meditating on important events as they unfolded in Jerusalem. Continue the walk with meditations on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Litany

I had a prepared meditation on the future hopes for the gardens, which we’ll do next week. This week, I felt it was important for us to pause and pray for the two most recent mass shootings. Pray with me.

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

UNCSW 65

Today we step into a slightly different mode. This is the first of two weeks of the international gathering of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Thousands of women from non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, and other advocates for gender justice gather to provide input on the outcome statement of the United Nations. This year I am one of the team leaders of the Presiding Bishop’s Delegation to the UNCSW and worked on the Opening Worship service. I am sharing a meditation from that service which considers the Areas of Concern identified in the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Sinking into Poetry

We’ll be spending some time with T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. We continue this week with the final section of Burnt Norton, Section 5. Eliot continues to play with liminal space while considering beginnings and endings, the Word in the desert (particularly apt for Lent), and the figure of the ten stairs (referencing St. John of the Cross and the ten steps of the mystical ladder of divine love). Where does the dance of the Holy Trinity cross through your life? What intersections do you see with the Holy Spirit? FourQuartets (paikassociates.com)

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Sinking into Poetry

We’ll be spending some time with T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. We continue this week with Burnt Norton, Section 4. Light and dark, silence and sound, movement and stillness. We find God in the liminal spaces between our limited view of the world as binaries. We are invited in to see the fullness of creation. FourQuartets (paikassociates.com)

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Ash Wednesday

The liturgy for Ash Wednesday in the Book of Common Prayer is a simply designed service which invites a contemplative approach. Join me in the Ash Wednesday Liturgy and see what feels different with a focus moved from the imposition of ashes to the Word.

The service can be found on page 264 of the Book of Common Prayer or at The Online Book of Common Prayer (bcponline.org)

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Sinking into Poetry

We’ll be spending some time with T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. We continue this week with Burnt Norton, Section 3. What images strike you? What gives you energy? The poem speaks about distractions and time. How is your sense of time a distraction from your spiritual life?

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Sinking into Poetry

We’ll be spending some time with T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. We continue this week with Burnt Norton, Section 2. What images strike you? What gives you energy? Notice the melting away of binary thinking.

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Sinking into Poetry

We’ll be spending some time with T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. We begin this week with Burnt Norton, Section 1. Sink into the beautiful imagery and find God in the tragedy of the path not taken.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Invitational not Divisional

Today we are thinking about invitation and how, as people of God, we need to provide hospitality and invitation to all of God’s children. Even when we may not want to. Remembering that all of God’s creation is the Beloved of God can be hard work!

I will also be holding a Zoom “Conversation About Differences” in the coming weeks. Details will be shared on our events page and here.

Wednesday, January 12, 2021

Becoming an Instrument of Peace

Today we are engaging in meditative prayer, using the words, “Make me an instrument of your peace.”

Today the world needs people committed to God’s peace and willing to reach out to their neighbors in love and forgiveness. Entering into the deep quiet of this prayer helps us to carry God’s peace into the world. We were not made to do this alone, God’s peace only comes through reliance on God.

You can learn more about bridging the divides that keep us from unity with the free course, “Make Me an Instrument of Peace: A Guide to Civil Discourse,” offered by ChurchNext at Make Me an Instrument of Peace: A Guide to Civil Discourse (churchnext.tv)

The Peace Prayer attributed to St. Francis can be found in the Book of Common Prayer on page 833

The link embedded below has been acting a little strangely, you can also access the video by copying and pasting this link in your browser window: https://youtu.be/GxcGXmT3icA

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020

The Fourth Week of Advent

During Advent, we will be exploring the Gospel lesson from the Sunday lectionary using Lectio Divina. This week’s Gospel is Luke 1:26-38.

Wednesday, December 16th, 2020

The Third Week of Advent

During Advent, we will be exploring the Gospel lesson from the Sunday lectionary using Lectio Divina. This week’s Gospel is John 1:6-8, 19-28

Wednesday, December 9th, 2020

The Second Week of Advent

During Advent, we will be exploring the Gospel lesson from the Sunday lectionary using Lectio Divina. This week’s Gospel is Mark 1:1-8.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020

The First Week of Advent

During Advent, we will be exploring the Gospel lesson from the Sunday lectionary using Lectio Divina. This week’s Gospel is Mark 13:24-37.

Wednesday, November 25th, 2020

Faith at Home, Creation Time

Week 2

This week we continue a series of devotions compiled by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan called, Faith at Home, Creation Time 2020. Bradley Pickens wrote and curated the collection drawing on the works of Jamaica Kinkaid, and Antiguan-American writer. The full resource can be found here.

Today we explore the separation of the waters.

Wednesday, November 11th, 2020

Faith at Home, Creation Time

This week we begin a series of devotions compiled by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan called, Faith at Home, Creation Time 2020. Bradley Pickens wrote and curated the collection drawing on the works of Jamaica Kinkaid, and Antiguan-American writer. The full resource can be found here.

Today we explore the wind from God, the Holy Spirit.

Wednesday, November 4th, 2020

Unburdening and Entering Sacred Spaces

Letting go of those things which hold us back—all the distractions, worries, and fears that keep us from being present to the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Wednesday, October 28th, 2020

Prayer Rooms and Rosaries

With the sleet and ice flying, I decided today is a good day to explore a prayer room and the Anglican Rosary. Welcome to my prayer room!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2020

Sacred Places

I have been unable to visit nature for the past three days, which reminded me of the gift of imagination and guided meditation. Take a walk with me through your own sacred place as we explore God in creation.

Wednesday, October 14th, 2020

Listening for God in Creation

Today we are praying a meditation from Matthew Fox’s book, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power for the 21st Century. We take a few quiet moments to consider the sounds of creation.

Matthew Fox’s book is available on his website here

Wednesday, October 7th, 2020

Season of Creation - Week 5

This morning’s Season of Creation devotional is offered by the Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is based on Psalm 19.

The song suggested in the devotional can be found at the following link:

Light Dawns on a Weary World (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 726)

The text for the devotionals can be found here

This is the final Season of Creation Devotional, but for Bethany House and Garden it is always the season of creation!

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

Season of Creation - Week 4

This morning’s Season of Creation devotional is offered by the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, Linda Nicholls. It is based on Exodus 17:1-17.

The song suggested in the devotional can be found at the following link:

Now the Green Blade Rises (Common Praise, 237)

The text for the devotionals can be found here

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

Season of Creation - Week 3

This morning’s Season of Creation devotional is offered by the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Michael Curry. It is based on Philippians 1:21-30.

The song suggested in the devotional can be found at the following link:

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (Lift Every Voice and Sing II, 217)

The text for the devotionals can be found here

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Season of Creation - Week 2

This morning’s Season of Creation devotional is offered by the National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Susan Johnson. It is based on Matthew 18:21-35. 

The song suggested in the devotional can be found at the following link:
Touch the Earth Lightly (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 739)

The text for the devotionals can be found here

Wednesday September 9, 2020

Season of Creation - Week 1

This morning we begin our celebration of the Season of Creation through the devotionals being offered by the primates of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Anglican Church of Canada, The Episcopal Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

The songs suggested in the devotionals can be found at the following links:

Touch the Earth Lightly (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 739)

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (Lift Every Voice and Sing II, 217)

Now the Green Blade Rises (Common Praise, 237)

Light Dawns on a Weary World (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 726)
The text for the devotionals can be found here

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020

Today I introduce the practice of Lectio Tierra. I learned about this practice on a Good News Gardens convening session. To learn more about Lectio Tierra please visit Godspace here

For more information about the Good News Gardens Movement, please visit The Episcopal Church here

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Walk with me as I pray, “My God, My All”

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

Taken from Enriching Our Worship 1, we are praying Canticle S, “A Song of Our True Nature,” by Julian of Norwich