“Our raft-making won’t stop the fires from flaring up, but it may teach us how to sit with the heat without burning away.”  – Bayo Akomolafe Rather than sharing a reflection of my own this week, I decided to uplift this brief but gorgeous one: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/post/sanctuary-is-not-a-place Upcoming Happenings: This Sunday, May 3rd, following coffee hour, around … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 4.29.26

I recently received the prompt to write a short love letter from Earth, and this is what I came up with. Happy Earth Day! I hope this writing gives you a sense of peace and groundedness today. Dear Beloved, My skin misses your warm attention, your playful presence, your sweet surrender. May time and gravity … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 4.22.26

“Ageism is a denial of you as a person, and like all other forms of rejection makes you feel sad, angry or useless. Get enough of it, and you start to shrink inside.” -Polly, a campaign supporter of Age Without Limits This past week, in the online depth immersion I am participating in, alongside a … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 4.15.26

“As long as you are concerned about improving yourself, you’ll always have a self to improve. And you will always suffer.” – Cheri Huber I celebrated my 33rd rotation on Monday, and as it approached, I reflected on the way aging was talked about during my younger years. There was abundant commentary about it being … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 4.8.26

“The most meaningful futures rarely arrive because we forced them into existence. They emerge because we noticed something true and stayed with it. A question that would not let us go. A grief that clarified what mattered. A longing that persisted beneath distraction. A quiet conviction that shaped our choices over time… The invitation is … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 4.1.26

“It is possible the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and lovingkindness, a community practicing mindful living. And the practice can be carried out as a group, as a city, as a nation.” -Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhist … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 3.11.26

“I stood willingly and gladly in the characters of everything—other people, trees, clouds. And this is what I learned: that the world’s otherness is antidote to confusion, that standing within this otherness—the beauty and the mystery of the world, out in the fields or deep inside books—can re-dignify the worst-stung heart. Real attention needs empathy; attention … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 3.4.26

“The older I get the more I understand that laughter isn’t about pretending that things are fine. It’s about surviving the fact that they aren’t. It’s about staying human when life could easily harden you.” -Catherine O’Hara (actress best known for her roles in Home Alone, Beetlejuice, and Schitt’s Creek, who died recently) As I … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 2.25.26

“A culture of domination is anti-love. It requires violence to sustain itself. To choose love is to go against the prevailing values of the culture.” – bell hooks With it being Valentine’s week, many may feel disenchanted by a holiday like this, as capitalism normalizes and puts pressure on the giving of gifts whose origins … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 2.11.26

“The seeds are  in the compost. The ancestors are in the soil. Our love is older than any wall. The roots break through.” -Alexis Pauline Gumbs, from Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies This particular time in our culture, history, and season, is one in which we are being stretched by both deep grief … Continue reading Director of Lifespan Faith Formation 2.4.26