I am retreating up in the mountains with my husband of thirty years at the very moment that my friends in Wheaton are laying their beloved son, student and soldier to rest. He was a classmate of my son's. So I walked over to our little chapel high in the treetops and prayed for Sam's… Continue reading Before Their Time
Category: Archives
My blogs from the early 2000’s until we moved back to Minnesota in 2017.
Engaged to Gratitude
Mary is waiting. When Gabriel arrives, she is waiting to marry Joseph. She is engaged, or rather, in more hefty biblical language and meaning, she is betrothed. She is technically married to Joseph. Now she is waiting out the prescribed year of preparation before she goes to live in Joseph's house as Joseph's wife. But… Continue reading Engaged to Gratitude
A Real Battle
A few years ago I found myself having sustained one of those sickening, confusing, fearful spiritual attacks for which one is completely unprepared. I could only describe it as a poisonous arrow…and then I thought of Paul’s “flaming darts of the evil one” at the end of Ephesians. Perhaps Paul was not just painting a nice word… Continue reading A Real Battle
Ubi Caritas
I had the most extraordinary experience on Maundy Thursday. I was playing the piano for the small church where I presently worship. It is part of the complicated map of American Anglicanism that regularly rearranges itself in this era. I have a deep love for the beauty and truth of this prayer book tradition, even as I ache… Continue reading Ubi Caritas
Narnia Revisited
If its been awhile since you have been immersed in Narnia, I heartily recommend it as an anecdote for that sluggishness of soul that so easily creeps up on us. Narnia has been in my teaching repertoire for several years now. In 2003 I began to teach a class called "The Seven Deadly Sins in… Continue reading Narnia Revisited
Left-Handed Prayer
When I was in Junior High I taught myself to crochet. I would have asked someone to teach me but I had one problem—I was left-handed and everyone I knew who possessed a crochet hook was right-handed. So I taught myself. I learned to reverse the pictures on the page, and recognize the patterns reversed on my hook. There… Continue reading Left-Handed Prayer
Careening Carrots and Welcoming Worship
There was no doubt that I was somewhere completely "other" from the moment I got off the plane. It wasn't just the endless sun that never seemed to set as I continued to fly west and west and more west. It was the spicy air and the curved bent of an alphabet that had as… Continue reading Careening Carrots and Welcoming Worship
Like A Tree
Receptivity by Pamela Keske
Ravens
National Park Service photo As we drove up to our place on Lake Superior, we were greeted by a large raven who had taken dominion over the doorway. He had found something to eat, and wasn’t yielding the ground without coaxing. Tenacious old bird. And then, this morning, I read these amazing words of Jesus, “fear… Continue reading Ravens
Faith, Hope and Love
I cannot imagine a world without faith, hope and love. We would be left without the inheritance of spiritual gifts to make sense of life, press into life, and embrace the goodness of life. For this is what faith, hope and love, the gifts of our birthright in Christ, offer to us. Christian faith speaks… Continue reading Faith, Hope and Love
Carla Waterman 