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A Musing Amma

2013-10-13T12:45:44-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Hurts and Slights

Last updated on: October 13, 2013 at 12:45 pm   By Elizabeth Nordquist

It happens in the gathering of the faithful episodically, but regularly enough to have to take of note of one’s reactions and behavior: someone gets her nose out of joint, someone blows his top, there is fighting and biting–not philosophical argument, not theological misunderstanding, not just opposite points of view, but personal hurts and slights slung and accrued on a List of Blame. Accusations are made, epithets are thrown, or a great silence is hung on the conversation. All lofty... Read more

community

compassion

forgiveness

friendship

letting go

peacemaking

Compassion

conflict

2013-10-05T06:36:32-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Sunday Morning Prayer for Preachers

Last updated on: October 5, 2013 at 6:36 am   By Elizabeth Nordquist

After I preached last Sunday, I was freshly aware of how much I needed to trust the prayers of others as I climbed into the pulpit. I told my friend, the rector, that I would be praying for him, Sunday after Sunday. I was reminded of the many preachers I know by virtue of my professional years of service, and how even though I no longer preach regularly, I can still contribute to that avenue of being good news in... Read more

Prayer

preaching

St. Francis

Prayer

Preaching

2013-09-27T03:45:09-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Preacher Woman

Last updated on: September 27, 2013 at 3:45 am   By Elizabeth Nordquist

This week I remember and celebrate the 30th anniversary of my ordination to the Ministry of Word And Sacrament, which is what we called it in those days.  In some ways no one could have been more surprised than I was, because I was not formed in a tradition that believed in or supported the call of women to the pulpit and positions of leadership in the Church. Yet as a mother of young children, I began with others, men... Read more

discernment

faithfulness

gratitude

ordination

pilgrimage

remembering

serving

suffering

Word

gratitude

Ministry

Preaching

remembering

2013-09-20T05:58:57-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mapping Our Lives: Reviewing “The Geography of Memory”

Last updated on: September 20, 2013 at 5:58 am   By Elizabeth Nordquist

In my reading one of my beloved teachers-from-books, Joyce Rupp, I find these words in her Names for God: You never stop teaching us through the story of our lives and the heritage of our world (entry for Sept. 16). This is the underlying gift of Jeanne Murray Walker’s new book The Geography of Memory: A Pilgrimage Through Alzheimer’s. Although the author’s journey with her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease over a decade is the presenting feature of the book–in title, in... Read more

attentiveness

Book Review

compassion

faithfulness

letting go

memory

mourning

presence

Book Review

Compassion

faithfulness

2013-09-15T16:19:18-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Atchison Blue: A Book Review

Last updated on: September 15, 2013 at 4:19 pm   By Elizabeth Nordquist

The quest for a place of Spirit and a community of sacred conversation is a hot topic among those with whom I talk these days. Denominations seem to be coming apart at the seams; old practices no longer have the power that they once did, and the thread of the question is “Where do I go to find an organic connection with the Holy and with people of similar longing?” Atchison Blue by Judith Valente tells one woman’s story of ... Read more

attentiveness

Beauty

Book Review

community

discernment

pilgrimage

sacred conversation

storytelling

women

Book Review

pilgrimage

spiritual quest

2013-09-03T09:39:49-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How the Light Gets In

Last updated on: September 3, 2013 at 9:39 am   By Elizabeth Nordquist

My “summer” ended with my reading the long-awaited publication of the Louise Penny mystery, How the Light Gets In.  With great skill the author claims the chorus from Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem” as the metaphor for the way that humans keep working for good, despite our fragility and brokenness:                          Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.  In the book, the light of justice prevails in... Read more

action

Beauty

community

compassion

faith

faithfulness

Healing

mourning

patience

perseverance

Prayer

suffering

Action

faithfulness

pain

2013-08-27T09:04:07-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Morning Glory Season

Last updated on: August 27, 2013 at 9:04 am   By Elizabeth Nordquist

The culture is in its annual Ramping Up Season frenzy: Fantasy Football, Blessing of the Backpacks, Back to School Sales, Homecoming Sunday, recipes for Fall (now that the season or berries, cherries and peaches is over). None of those seasons shape my life currently. Nor does the weather in Southern California; the textbook seasons seem to elude us here. It could just as well be winter in August on certain days as summer. It’s clear that seasons for me cannot... Read more

Beauty

discernment

faithfulness

listening

patience

Seasons

Beauty

faithfulness

seasons

2013-08-12T09:51:01-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Spiritual Companion: A Creature Wide and Small

Last updated on: August 12, 2013 at 9:51 am   By Elizabeth Nordquist

Here in mid-August I have been left behind by my nearby and family and friends who are off adventuring, and have been entrusted with the care of Linus, my 11 year old  grand-dog. I learned to love dogs in the early years of my marriage, but those dogs were all beautifully long, leggy and adventurous, bred for herding and cavorting and chasing sticks. Linus is none of those things. Compact, deliberate, loyal, sedentary, he is my companion of body and... Read more

animals

Beauty

faithfulness

gratitude

patience

perseverance

presence

creation

spiritual friendship

2013-08-04T15:54:41-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Pray As you Can, Not As You Can’t

Last updated on: August 4, 2013 at 3:54 pm   By Elizabeth Nordquist

I am some one for whom prayer is an organic practice. I continue to teach people how to pray. Yet in these past weeks, I have been stopped short by my body, and my mind and spirit have come tumbling after. I am participating with health care givers in my healing of back and leg pain with medication, physical therapy, and attempts to be patient. Between my physical discomfort and my medicinal medical haze, I can’t sustain and practice prayer... Read more

mourning

patience

Prayer

spiritual practice

suffering

pain

Prayer

2013-07-14T17:41:02-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Acquainted with Sorrow

Last updated on: July 14, 2013 at 5:41 pm   By Elizabeth Nordquist

Since my summer practice is to be present, I cannot avoid being present to the pain and sorrow that come into my  awareness. This week, my heart was broken first for the families of the two teenage girls from China, having sent their daughters off for an enriching and spiritually deepening experience in the United States, only to hear that they had been killed in a horrifying airplane crash at San Francisco International Airport. Here in Southern California a whole... Read more

attentiveness

compassion

faithfulness

Healing

suffering

Compassion

paying attention

presence

suffering



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