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Trafficking and Prostitution: A Litany for the Wounded

My friend Michelle and her partner had to take a spur-of-the-moment trip into Seattle today and are staying the night with us.  A treat to see her since we don’t get to spend time together very often.  She works up in Vancouver for the rights of women who have been trafficked into the sex industry.   Below is a prayer she wrote for a gathering.  I invite you to pray for these women, to spread wide your imagination, and to live into freedom and possibility for all those who have been oppressed. Opening Prayer Scripture For a long time I have kept silent,

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Celebrating the Feast of Saint Francis

    I went looking for images of Saint Francis in honor of his feast day tomorrow (October 4th) and found some lovely ones above (see below for the links to the artists).  Francis is known for many things, his life of poverty, his commitment to peace, and especially his great love of animals and all creation. He is often depicted with creatures at his side and this feast day is celebrated with a “Blessing of the Animals.”  I remember attending such a service when we lived in Berkeley with Duke.  There in the pews were cats and dogs, rabbits and birds, pot-bellied pigs and guinea

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Life Illuminated

I had another wonderful pilgrimage into the forest yesterday.  The sunlight was radiant, the trees luminous. A pilgrimage is a journey of discovery initiated by a sacred impulse, the deep longing we each carry to see holiness more clearly. It is both an inward and outward journey where I open my  heart, face the unknown, and hope for transformation.  I am transformed in the process and doing of it. In the act of walking and praying, I am knit together, body and soul, into a wholeness. Thomas Merton said that there is in all things “a hidden wholeness.” The wholeness in me

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So what would you think of. . .

. . .a series of art journals around different themes?  This is an idea that has been stirring in me the last few weeks and I want to put it out there to the blogosphere and see what kind of response it might get.  What I am thinking of are different journals that would include a combination of text and art.  Each would have a focus like discernment, grief, dreams, creativity, lectio divina, liturgical and natural seasons, etc.  There would be some content — reflections on the theme, but there would also be lots of luscious open pages with photos, collage,

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More Icons

     More beautiful icons by Heather Williams Durka.  As I mention in my previous post, Heather is an iconographer in the Orthodox tradition. Please visit her website:   Icons and Sacred Images Scroll down for a post on using lectio divina to pray with images. . .

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Lectio Divina Unleashed: Part Three (Icons)

“For the invisible things of God since the creation of the world are made visible through images.”                      (John of Damascus, On Holy Images) The beautiful icon above is by iconographer Heather Williams Durka who lives in Olympia.  You can find her website here.  Heather offers icon workshops and has affordable reproductions of her wonderful images available for purchase.  She also has some great reflections on the role of icons in Orthodox tradition. There are many wonderful books available on praying with icons. The tradition of gazing upon icons as a window to God is an ancient one.  Lectio divina

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(Interlude continued)

Another amazing hike along the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River today, I took loads of photos but Flickr is telling me I have reached my limit this month (maybe I need to upgrade!).   Just as well, I am tired, that wonderful kind of tired when you have walked for hours, listened through the silence for the invitation of moss and trees, and engaged in long conversations with a soul friend.  These weekly sojourns out to wild places never fail to open up something new in me. Sweet dreams, tomorrow more lectio divina. . . -Christine Valters Paintner

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Soul Nourishment (Interlude)

What feeds your soul?   What is essential for you to feel well-nourished, alive, and energized? I don’t just mean how many calories you need to consume to function, or what balance of vitamins and minerals you need for body processes.  I mean, what are the things in your life that bring you such delight you feel as though your heart might burst with gratitude? I’ve had one of those weeks so far of feeling my soul deeply nourished (and its only Wednesday and I go out on my Sabbath hike with Kathy in a little while). Last Sunday my husband and

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Lectio Divina Unleashed: Part Two (Poetry)

“People turn to poems for some kind of illumination, for revelations that help them to survive.” -Denise Levertov, “Poetry, Prophecy and Survival” Poetry is language illuminated.  When we read poetry we are reading the same words we use for prose, but because of the compactness of images and the poet’s way of pointing us deeper than what we expect to see, poetry has the potential to reveal the sacred to us in new ways.  Much of scripture is written in poetic form, making use of metaphor, rhythm, meter, sound, and image to help us grasp an awareness of God.  Praying

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Lectio Divina Unleashed: Part One

Lectio divina is an ancient prayer practice, meaning sacred reading.  It is a way of being with the sacred texts of our tradition in a contemplative way.  Lectio invites us to enter into silence and stillness to listen deeply for the stirring of the holy in scripture and in us.  Here is a simple overview of the process (modified and condensed from the introduction of our book): The Process of Lectio Divina Preparation Before beginning your time of lectio choose a scripture passage with which to pray.  There are many ways to do this.  I suggest in beginning a regular practice that you

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