Blog Archive
Contemplating the messiness of Christian life
The Messy Jesus Business Blog is an ecumenical Christian gathering of musings about what it means to live the Gospel today. A variety of contributors offer prayer, poetry, book reviews, creative nonfiction and prose about what it means to live a life of faith in our complex, modern times.
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Love as I’ve loved you … OR I WILL TURN THIS MINIVAN AROUND!
As a mother, nothing brings me greater joy than witnessing my daughters’ love for one another. Each time they giggle in mutual delight at a game they’ve invented, insist on “sister snuggles” to begin the day or tenderly care for one another’s “ouchies,” I feel as though they’ve just given me an extravagant gift. No
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The skin I didn’t ask for: Bemoaning my white privilege and the evil of racial violence
I am afraid this blog post is going to be a terrible, tangled mess: sorry about that. But considering the mess this is all about, a jumble might be the best I can give. My thoughts are tangled because so much has been stirring within me since last week when I learned about the killings
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His church and mine: A love story
“So, you’re Catholic, but you’re married to a Lutheran pastor. How does that work?” I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been asked this question in my seven years of marriage. Depending upon the inquirer, I have a few canned answers that easily roll off the tongue, but the simplest and most genuine is this: “By
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What if Jesus prayed like this?
After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22) Sometimes I like to
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Orlando faces in the sanctuary: Sacred wounds and the communal body
This week at Sunday Mass I had a full-body prayer experience that transcended the ordinary. I am Catholic. Full-body prayer is nothing unusual; it’s basic Catholic functioning. Stand, sing, sit, listen, sing, listen, speak, kneel, stand, shake hands, sing, walk, eat, drink, kneel, sit and stand. Through the rhythm of movements, our hands, feet, mouths
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Work and rest
This last month was a strenuous one in my youth ministry. It involved back-to-back weekend events, and I found myself putting in tons of extra hours and working for a 21-day stint with only a single day off. It involved late nights and early mornings. It was hard, tiring work. During one evening of
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Prayers this is the final massacre
My heart is broken this week. I am aching with everyone who has been hurt in any way by the shooting in Orlando. I am bemoaning the brokenness in our world, the division, violence, judgement, and hate that allow such awful atrocities to occur. I am angry that our nation’s laws fail to protect the common
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Challenged to trust in Mystery
Yesterday I finished packing up my classroom. A somber weight pressed upon my shoulders as I cleaned out my desk, dusted shelves and put books and picture frames in boxes. In the silence I prayed in gratitude for the room that has held so much life and energy for me during the past four years.
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Pausing, breathing, reposting, replying as a member of the body of Christ
“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” This quote, attributed to author and theologian Ian Maclaren, has been tossed around a lot. I think I first saw it memed on Facebook and most recently I heard it on Krista Tippet’s On Being. It is simple and straightforward and frankly, kind enough,
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Ordinary mystery
Now we are in ordinary time. Alleluia for the sunset each day. Alleluia for sniffing wilted lilac blossoms. Alleluia for pauses in the rushed, packed scheduled life. Christ comes to us is the cracks of our life, in the common mystery: Slicing orange cheddar for a quick snack, the sweetness of a fresh mandarin, the
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Spiritual rights for the mentally (sk)illed
So, this week some depression symptoms have come back. Fatigue, heaviness, a dull pull at the sides of my mouth, a silent scream in my throat, anxiousness, and a few intrusive thoughts of self-harm. But, I’m a veteran. I know what to do. Give it to Jesus. Increase self-care. Decrease stress. Pull out my toolbox
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The church is a home for peacemakers
In the midst of a war, I found my home in the Catholic church. I was a college student, majoring in history. Studying history meant, among other things, studying war and the destruction and injustices that wars had repeatedly caused. The more I studied this side of history, the more passionate I became about social
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