This year I am actively practicing the spiritual practice of pausing (which includes deep breathing and breath prayers) to help balance the tension. Pause before speaking. Pause before responding to emails and texts. Pause before offering help, opinions, suggestions, answers. Pause before I jump into the day and pause when I find myself depleted of… Continue reading Trust in the Slow Work of God
Yesterday I went on a walk with a friend who had some things on her heart to process. She suggested a walk over meeting for coffee. Quickly into our time together I realized that this was going to be a “workout walk” not a leisurely stroll as we chatted. Multi-tasking was in store: heavy conversation… Continue reading Setting the Pace
When I first started to think about engaging with the concept of Christian Nationalism, I didn’t think it would really apply to me. I had images in my mind of the KKK or, more recently, angry white young men in Charlottesville in 2017. The truth is, I didn’t think much about it, as it seemed… Continue reading Awakening to the Disorientation of ARC
I’ve always been dissatisfied with the church, as far as inclusion goes. I’ve lived with a disability all my life, spent most of my childhood in a long-stay children’s hospital. In-between times I attended a school for physically and mentally handicapped children (1950’s terminology). I picked up a few unwanted labels on the way and needed to… Continue reading My Two Halves of Life
I am from Northern Ireland. I was born into a ‘side’. My side was Protestant, and from an early age, I heard ‘you can’t trust a Catholic’, a phrase many Protestant children would have had subliminally engrained in their beliefs. We went to our protestant schools and Catholic’s to theirs. We didn’t do Irish dancing,… Continue reading A Story of two sides
My college life centered around a Wednesday ritual: staying up past midnight finalizing the week’s edition of our student newspaper. Sometimes I was editing copy, or designed the page layouts or translated the content into our website. The other days of the week, I assigned stories, wrote copy, or photographed campus events. In this work,… Continue reading The pull towards peace journalism
I grew up in a family of five—I (Linda) am the oldest, followed by my two younger brothers (Matthew and Paul). What began as a happy childhood was sideswiped by drugs as my brothers entered adolescence and started exploring the world of illegal substances. Our happy little family was never the same. As we turned… Continue reading Paul Janney
“Who must I become as a leader in order to accompany my church in her pilgrimage from the comfort of power and control to the vulnerability of community?” When this Journey of Hope pilgrimage first began, I felt an urgency to help move my church from here to there. I had anticipated this journey serving… Continue reading It’s Over…And We’ve Only Just Begun
“Who must I become as a leader in order to accompany my church in her pilgrimage from the comfort of power and control to the vulnerability of community?” The answer to this pressing question seems more distant to me right now. Rather than moving on this pilgrimage toward “the vulnerability of community,” it feels like… Continue reading On Slowing Down and Surprises
“Look at each screen in this Zoom gathering and see the divine in each person here.” With these opening words, our Journey of Hope pilgrimage had begun. One by one, I looked at each person, very few who were familiar to me, and I saw the belovedness and image of God in each of them.… Continue reading Whom Must I Become?
