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Monk Badges: Share your commitment!

After many requests, I had my delightful web person create some badges for you to post on your blogs and Facebook pages, as a reminder of your commitment as a monk in the world and dancing monk, and a way to share that commitment with others. Three different options are below along with the code you can use to post the image (you can also right-click to save the image to your hard drive and then post it that way). The first badge links to the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks page and the second and third link to the Monk

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October 3, 2013

Monk in the World guest post: Claire Bangasser

Our next post in the Monk in the World series is from Claire Bangasser, whom I have known for several years now in the virtual world of writing on faith and spirituality. She makes regular pilgrimages on the Compostelle and the subtitle of her blog is “I re-imagine a Church engaged in dialogue with people at the margins,” a wonderful mission indeed.  She writes about justice and peace, women’s spirituality, and here shares about returning to her roots to encounter Godde*: A Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience “Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the

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September 30, 2013

An opportunity to pause and savor

At the Abbey this fall we have weekly invitations to lectio divina, photography, poetry, and dance on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Sundays respectively.  With a 5th Sunday this month, I am inviting you to allow this week to be a chance to revisit some of the previous invitations and savor what has been shared there, as well as your own unfolding response to the “Call to Newness” we have been exploring. Consider stopping by these posts and see what newness is stirred: Community Lectio Divina Isaiah 42:6-10 Invitation to Photography: Call to Newness Invitation to Poetry: Call to Newness

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September 29, 2013

Invite Wonder (a love note from your online Abbess)

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) Invite Wonder What if you bowed before every dandelion you met and wrote love letters to squirrels and pigeons who crossed your path? What if scrubbing the dishes became an act of single reverence for the gift of being washed clean, and what if the rhythmic percussion of chopping carrots became the drumbeat of your dance? What if you stepped into the shower each morning only to be baptized anew and sent forth to serve the grocery bagger, the bank teller, and the bus

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September 25, 2013

Monk in the World guest post: Claudia Mair

This week’s Monk in the World reflection come from Claudia Mair who blogs at Ragamuffin Diva and is the author of God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (as well as many novels including the Amanda Bell Brown Mystery Series). I’ve been online friends with Claudia for several years and always am moved by the honesty of her writing. She has the heart of a monk: willing to embrace humility and speak truth. If the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, mine has fallen into disrepair, which is why I surprised myself when I decided to

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September 23, 2013

Invitation to Dance: Call to Newness

This autumn at the Abbey, we are adding two new features to our regular contemplative and creative invitations to the community. First was the lectio divina practice (this month with Isaiah 42:6-10) and this week we introduce an Invitation to Dance (seems appropriate for a Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks!) Our theme this month (emerging from the scripture text) is “Call to Newness.” Make sure to stop by this month’s Photo Party and Poetry Party on the theme as well, you can continue to post your poems and images there. Dance is about being willing to awaken and show up fully to life

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September 22, 2013

(Not quite a) Monk in the World guest post: Carl McColman

We continue our Monk in the World series of guest posts with a reflection from Carl McColman.  Carl has written some beautiful books about mysticism, introducing lay people to the term and inviting them to embrace its gifts for their own lives. I am pleased to welcome his (somewhat contrary) voice into this space: Living in the World (Whether or Not You’re a Monk) Ten years ago Wayne Teasdale wrote a book called A Monk in the World.  It’s based on an idea he received from Bede Griffiths, the Benedictine monk who founded a Christian ashram in India. The idea is

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September 16, 2013

Invitation to Poetry: Call to Newness

Welcome to Poetry Party #70! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. Scroll down and add it in the comments section below or join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group and post there. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one), Facebook, or Twitter, and encourage others to come join the party!  (If you repost the photo, please make sure to include the credit link below it and link back to this post inviting

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September 14, 2013

“Lovingly Fitted” (a love note from your online Abbess)

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) King Solomon made himself an enclosed litter of wood from Lebanon. He made its columns of silver, its roof of gold, Its seat of purple cloth, its interior lovingly fitted. —Song of Songs 3:9-10 Dearest monks and artists, I have mentioned before that my husband and I practice lectio divina together and we have slowly been working our way through the Song of Songs together, praying with just a couple of verses at a time in a practice of lectio continua. Several weeks

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September 11, 2013

Monk in the World guest post: Tara Owens

This summer I invited the 12 members of the Wisdom Council to each write a reflection on being a monk in the world. They were so well-received by the Abbey community, I decided to continue the series this fall by asking some fellow authors and bloggers I know to also write about living contemplatively in daily life. I am delighted to have such a lovely line up for you, beginning with Tara Owens, who I got to know initially through Spiritual Directors International and have grown to love her spirit and perspective on things. So I bring you some of her wisdom: To

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September 9, 2013