I met David through my dear friend and teaching partner Betsey Beckman. My husband and I went to the teahouse where her husband and son were performing music that night and we ended up sitting next to David.  He and his wife have been long-time friends with Betsey through their role as musicians.  We spent the evening listening to great music and enjoying David’s sense of humor as he told us about his new publishing adventure.  I was entranced by the way he has dedicated himself to this new work so singularly and passionately.  So with this week’s edition of the Sacred

I have been a fan of Jan Richardson‘s work for a long time.  Her books In Wisdom’s Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season and Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas are two of my favorites because of their combining of word and image. Unfortunately the latter of those two is only available used through Amazon now as very expensive copies (I helped Jan sell out of her own copies), but she is working on getting it re-printed. I also enjoy Sacred Journeys: A Woman’s Book of Daily Prayer, filled with Jan’s meaningful words.  She also has a

I first met Maggie Yowell when she came to me for spiritual direction and then later she participated in our Awakening the Creative Spirit program.  It was more of a continued nurturing in the program since she had long been awakened through her work in SoulCollage, both as artist and facilitator of the process.  In the last couple of years though, her work has really blossomed as she has been defining her work as a Collage Artist, Spiritual Director, Creativity Coach, Life Enrichment Specialist, SoulCollage™ Facilitator, Veriditas Certified Labyrinth Facilitator, Church School Director, and Doula, all through her website Spirit

This week’s interview is with artist Tim Mooney. I first met Tim five years ago when he audited a class I co-taught through the San Francisco Theological Seminary on “Freeing the Imagination: Creativity as Christian Spiritual Practice.”  The course was funded by the Practicing Our Faith project and was an exciting opportunity to journey with twelve graduate students and ministers, exploring together the possibilities that creative practice holds for Christian communities.  Tim brought rich reflection from his own experience as an artist, spiritual director, and pastor within the Presbyterian tradition.  Since that time he has developed himself as an artist to the

I wrote about meeting Miska for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  She extended a very warm hospitality to me.  I really enjoyed talking with her and getting to know the artist behind the beautiful artwork I have admired for so long now.  When she told me she was teaching a painting class, I signed up and yesterday was the second lesson.  Painting is definitely not my strength, but I am enjoying learning from her.  She was gracious enough to respond to my invitation to be one of my featured sacred artists.  So here is some wisdom from Miska:

Heather Williams is an artist in Olympia, WA who is an iconographer in the Orthodox tradition. We connected with each other by email several months ago through St. Placid Priory and even though she only lives an hour away I haven’t had the chance to meet her in person yet, even though she has graciously extended the invitation to me to visit her art studio.  She has also offered icon writing ateliers in the past which I hope next time I might be able to participate in as I would love to learn the basics of this amazing art and prayer form. Heather took some

I first met Bill Hughlett because of my friendship with his wife Kayce, aka the delightful lucy.  I fell in love with his photography before I ever met him and then have had the chance to sit at dinner on a few occasions now and get to know him a bit better.  He is a really engaging person who speaks passionately about both his spiritual journey and his creative expression.  I am excited to share his insights into the connection between the two, so on to Bill’s responses: A brief introduction of yourself — faith tradition (if you have one), spiritual practice,