The Tenebrae service, often held on Wednesday of Holy Week, involves the gradual extinguishing of the lights until the church is in darkness. In fact, tenebrae is Latin for darkness, and the service symbolizes the confusion and terror that accompanies the death of Christ. In many ways, going more deeply into this darkness goes against…
The family who lives on the corner is busy with their sidewalk chalk, writing friendly messages and drawing rainbows and smiley faces in pretty pastel colors of yellow, pink, light green, baby blue and lavender. They do this, even with rain in the forecast. As I walk along their sidewalk squares I read: We Are…
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and…
Earthening & the Grandeur of God Ashes and palm-branches Bookends of Lent Earthening, homing, lengthening, soul-ing Pruning what’s lifeless and spent “Remember Ha-damah (Adam), that you are dust, And unto dust you shall return…” Springtime resurgence Pandemic begone! Deepening, flowing, strengthening, groaning When will we welcome the dawn? “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the One who…
Every morning I go outside, step into my little backyard, get down on my hands and knees and kiss Mother Earth. I push my forehead into her body, I smell her green, soil sweetness, I thank her for loving me and tell her how much I love her. These past few weeks I find myself taking…
Today, as we mourn the loss of so many lives, John O’Donohue’s reflection “For the Dying” might assist us as we courageously hold one another in love and loss. And we also offer this beautiful, recorded blessing “Deep Peace” by Bill Douglas as a source of consolation, inspiration, focus, compassion and love. For the Dying by…
For years, the last few in particular, some of us have been reflecting upon how humanity has placed astounding emphasis on exploring every physical inch of this planet and beyond. Piloted by voracious curiosity, the desire to understand and often exploit has driven us “outward” … ever outward. Hurling our bodies and machines in every…
A funny thing happened in my fourth week of obsessive hand washing. The act of washing my hands stopped being an interruption, a chore, a necessary but perfunctory ritual, and became a comfort. Suddenly, washing my hands became self care, massage, healing touch. At a time when I haven’t been in the same room as…
One of the highlights of my day is walking with the land in my neighborhood forest, at Prairiewoods or both. At this time, I am spending more time with my neighborhood forest, going out twice a day and fully noticing the life and breath of the land. This land is a soul friend and a…
Why do we make things? Art doesn’t have to be beautiful, but the making of art, no doubt, is an act of beauty. We are called to beauty. “Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness, like. Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming. So I think beauty, in that sense, is about an emerging fullness,…