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Mother’s Day Litany
Last Mother’s Day I wrote a litany acknowledging the pain sometimes felt on that day. The prayer has had a number of recent hits on my blog and some requests to use it in worship. I’ve linked it below....
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Prayer for Ordinary Time (second week after Pentecost)
We worship and we wonder. . . We worship and we wonder why the God of love would deem to pour His mercy on us. We recount our weeks and recoil at how often our pettiness, unlove, and immorality have...
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Help Me Be: a book review
Dale Fredrickson is a teaching pastor and spoken-word artist at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch, CO. Both as pastor and as poet, he is charged with the ministry of word-care (or...
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Call to Worship based on Genesis 37
For church this Sunday, I wore my Worship Leader hat. Our pastor just started a series on Joseph. It struck me that Joseph is the patron saint of anyone who has ever felt called and chosen and then...
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On Having a Prayer Life: a book review
I had a mentor once who warned me of the danger of reading about prayer without praying. There is no shortage of books on prayer which describe prayer’s power, methodology, theology and practice. I...
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My choice for Lent 2014: a book (p)review
The past couple of years my Lenten practice has been enriched by books from Paraclete Press. Two years ago I prayed the daily offices from the Prayer Book of the Early Christians through Lent. Last...
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The Happy Theologian and His Wife: book reviews.
I first became aware of John and Lilly Crowder a few years ago when, my world wide web wanderings led me to John Crowder’s ‘drunken anointing. I won’t link it here but you can gooogle examples. There...
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An Inner Step Toward God: a book review and GIVEAWAY!!!
Alexander Men was a popular Russian Orthodox priest during the final decades of the USSR. Through much of his ministry career, his writings were suppressed. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union,...
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Singing the Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land: a book review.
I love the Psalms. They reveal and revel in the goodness of God for his people Israel. The point to the coming Messiah. They are ‘a mirror for self-understanding,’ exploring the whole range of human...
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God Loves Dusty: a book review
The Bible tells us two major truths about what it means to be human. First, we are dust. We are here a moment, limited temporally and limited physically. Depressing as that sounds this is only a...
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A Prayer For All Saints Day
For all the saints who from their labors rest. . . We thank You and give You praise. It was You that shaped them, sustained them, made them hunger and thirst for righteousness, So that through their...
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A Prayer for Peace: Advent Week 2
We pray for the peace of Christ to reign in these times: Come, Lord Jesus, bring your peace to the earth. We are: War-torn and anxious, terror stricken and stressed, we have had our share of the...
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Praying to the Spirit: a prayer book review
I’ve become quite the fan of Jack Levison. I’ve read a couple of his books, Fresh Air and Forty Days with the Holy Spirit [as I write this review, Fresh Air and Forty Days are both only $1.99 on...
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Notes on Ps. 131 (Poem)
Psalm 131, A Song of Ascent, of David. I kick and rage– proud heart, haughty eyes I thought I’d made my mark already. Insides spinning– a hope deferred–anxiety throbbing through my thighs. It’s...
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The Spirit and ‘the Letter’ of Prayer: a book review
About a week-and-a-half ago, I received a copy of Letters to Jacob: Mostly on Contemplative Prayer in the mail. It was a short book, only ninety pages(more booklet than book). I thought I would breeze...
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A Litany for Father’s Day
A few years ago I posted a litany for Mother’s Day here as an offering for those who found that day hard. I didn’t post a prayer for Father’s Day. For me this has always been a good day. Since I’ve...
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Prayer: Adoration
My mother was the organist and choir director at our church, so I grew up somewhere near the third pew. During worship, my eyes followed my father’s finger through the hymnal. We sang: Crown Him with...
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Prayer: Confession I
Bringing Confession Home My life is displayed when You drop by: our shoes piled haphazard at the door, kids’ toys and clothes on the floor, the paper unread but spread across the coffee table, the...
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L is for Litany (an alphabet for penitents)
lit·a·ny [ˈlitnē] NOUN a series of petitions for use in church services or processions, usually recited by the clergy and responded to in a recurring formula by the people. a tedious recital or...
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Sola Oratio: a book review
The Reformers railed and raged against abuses they found in the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. They also were each devout men of God who prayed, believing how you approached God mattered. It...
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