“All sorrows are less with bread.”― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Sometimes, you just have to bake something. At least I do. Especially after a long news segment on very serious issues like the climate crisis and threats to democracy. When such big worries about the future threaten to undo me, I first pet the cat, assuring him that everything will be all right; then I march into the kitchen and begin throwing flour around. I don’t actually throw it, but it looks that way, given the mess I make. We all have these odd little rituals and spiritual ...

If you asked Jason, a lighting designer at a high-end architecture firm, whether his emotions impact his work, he’d laugh. He’d tell you that what matters is his ability to turn a client’s vision for their office building into a design that is practical and aesthetically pleasing. His feelings have nothing to do with it. Ask Jason’s coworkers and you’ll hear a different story. They’ll tell you that his work with clients and coworkers is inconsistent. If he’s in a good mood, all goes well. But when he is angry or frustrated, his interactions suf...

Share This autumn holiday of thanksgiving celebrates the fruit harvest and commemorates wayfarers' booths built by the Israelites during their years of wilderness wandering. In the “dark cold and the empty desolation,” God’s presence was closer than ever. To observe this festival, Jews create a small annex to their homes where they meet with friends, drink wine, and eat ripe fruits. The flimsy annex, taken down at week's end, and the fruits, which will spoil if not eaten, are reminders of the beauty of things that do not last. Here's how Rabbi ...

Share Phyllis Tickle and other scholars of religion have theorized that every 500 years, there is a great upheaval within Christianity. Luminaries like Brian McLaren have tried to map the whys and hows of navigating an upheaval, noting that we are currently in the midst of one. However, how much does this historical understanding actually impact the devout churchgoer, or the doubter who has stopped going? Curveball by Peter Enns speaks to both of these audiences and more, as it addresses what to do when experience challenges faith. Enns, who is...

Adobe Stock/ Egoitz A common saying in mindfulness is, you can’t pour from an empty cup. It means that we cannot show up at our best—for ourselves or others—if we’re physically, emotionally, or energetically drained. What needs to come first is self-care and self-compassion. This guided meditation is an opportunity to recharge and recenter so you can then go about the rest of your day with a full cup.  12 Minute Meditation: A Guided Visualization Meditation to Fill Your Cup with Carrington Kernodle Epperson To get started, I ask that you find a...

Share We first see Chris skateboarding past his elementary school, his long, curly hair blowing in the wind. He's got a big smile on his face. But teasing can crumble self-esteem even in a strong child. The kids at school laugh, stare, and call Chris' hair "girly". He gets some reassurance from his mother but, still unsure, decides to check out the mirror: "And then, right there, a woman appeared.It was kind of wild and a little weird!" This woman, an African queen version of a fairy godmother, explains that in a faraway land, he'd look just li...

Share “My faith now tells me that breeze is the breath of a God who looks nothing like what I thought God should look like. This God doesn’t recognize 'in' groups and 'out' groups and doesn’t help buttress walls between people. This God invites us to take apart the ways we define and prove our worthiness. “This God, as Jesus told us, is love. “Perhaps it’s the warm breath of God that makes us worthy. “Perhaps it’s this breath that gives us life and identity, an identity that invites us to love because God has loved us first. Loved us with the k...

Share This book is designed for Christians who have left their churches behind, disappointed in their religious leaders and their institutions. Author Matthias Roberts is one of them — having grown up in a rigid form of Christianity (including homeschool and a Christian college) and left it behind. His analysis is informed by his training as a psychotherapist who's an expert in trauma and recovery. Like any good therapist, Roberts encourages his clients (or readers) to work through their problems, talk about their experiences, and find construc...

Share For today’s Muslim population, thought to be about 1.9 billion people, Mawlid al-Nabi is a day to celebrate the birth of the prophet Muhammad and his role in their religion. When Muhammad was about forty years old (around 609 or 610 CE), he began to habitually withdraw to a cave to meditate in seclusion. On one such occasion, the angel Gabriel came to him and informed him that he was a messenger prophet and that he had been chosen by God to receive His word. Through Gabriel, God transmitted revelations of His word to Muhammad orally as we...

This practice involves labelling our emotions as they surface. Labelling emotions accurately means going beyond recognizing when anger or fear is present—There are many flavors of anger, for example, such as annoyance, rage, resentment, and aggravation. Finding the right label can give you the same feeling as hitting a tennis ball on the sweet spot of your racket—it just clicks. Sometimes emotions can feel threatening and there may be a fear that they might swallow us up or overwhelm us. As real as this threat might feel, it’s usually irrationa...

Share Image Credit: Will Counts/Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Hazel Massery, the young woman screaming at Elizabeth Eckford in this picture, later had a change of heart, becoming a peace activist and social worker. The end of racial segregation of schools began with the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling in 1954, that said separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. In 1955, the Supreme Court ordered that schools be desegregated "with all deliberate speed." In many places, this change came about peacefully or with minimal...

Share Yom Kippur, with its scriptural provision as "a statute forever" (Lev. 23:31), is the holiest day in the Jewish year. Following time-honored tradition, it provides an opportunity to express humility and gratitude for God's mercy. Specific laws ensure that observance of this day of atonement has continuity for succeeding generations. Worshippers repent and make amends before the day of Yom Kippur in order to benefit from God's forgiveness. They observe regulations involving fasting, work, dress, and other personal behaviors both before and...

Share Read [and reflect on the message below] in the context of your own faith, but with a curiosity, an openness, to hear what Native America has to say, to teach, to share…. When you enter into the mystery of these words for yourself, do so without preconception or judgment. With honesty and humility. Enter the deep earth of our ancient longing and reach for the highest branches of our collective hope…. Take each message as you find it. Let it speak to you directly. Ponder its meaning. Go wild once in a while.Go rogue.Do something outrageous ...

Share Read [and reflect on the message below] in the context of your own faith, but with a curiosity, an openness, to hear what Native America has to say, to teach, to share…. When you enter into the mystery of these words for yourself, do so without preconception or judgment. With honesty and humility. Enter the deep earth of our ancient longing and reach for the highest branches of our collective hope…. Take each message as you find it. Let it speak to you directly. Ponder its meaning. I am asking you to join me on this journeyNot because I w...

Share Read [and reflect on the message below] in the context of your own faith, but with a curiosity, an openness, to hear what Native America has to say, to teach, to share…. When you enter into the mystery of these words for yourself, do so without preconception or judgment. With honesty and humility. Enter the deep earth of our ancient longing and reach for the highest branches of our collective hope…. Take each message as you find it. Let it speak to you directly. Ponder its meaning. When I was a child I thought of the world around meAs a m...

Share Read [and reflect on the message below] in the context of your own faith, but with a curiosity, an openness, to hear what Native America has to say, to teach, to share…. When you enter into the mystery of these words for yourself, do so without preconception or judgment. With honesty and humility. Enter the deep earth of our ancient longing and reach for the highest branches of our collective hope…. Take each message as you find it. Let it speak to you directly. Ponder its meaning. I have visited the land of regret more than onceBut have ...

Share Read [and reflect on the message below] in the context of your own faith, but with a curiosity, an openness, to hear what Native America has to say, to teach, to share…. When you enter into the mystery of these words for yourself, do so without preconception or judgment. With honesty and humility. Enter the deep earth of our ancient longing and reach for the highest branches of our collective hope…. Take each message as you find it. Let it speak to you directly. Ponder its meaning. My ancestors valued silence.That is the room where the mi...

Share “Reflect upon a situation that has made you angry, preferably one that is not too recent or so volatile that it might overwhelm you. How do you know when you are angry? Where do you feel it in your body? How do you feel it emotionally? What do you normally do with your anger when it arises? How might you better honor and care for your anger?”

Share Sometimes the unhealthiest people are the ones who spend most of their waking hours taking care of other people. The author of this book is a longtime professor of clinical psychology and a more recent member of the Christian clergy. She is also a Black woman who specializes in working with other people of color, showing them the importance of caring for themselves. Self-care is a spiritual discipline, she makes clear in her introduction, adding eloquently: “We are not spirits that are simply housed in bodies. We are our bodies. There can...

Share (For our southern hemisphere friends, here are ways to celebrate Spring.) The autumn equinox marks the arrival of the season of fall, traditionally seen as a period of changes leading to the dark of winter. In Holidays and Holy Nights, Christopher Hill points out that for Christians who observe the liturgical year, autumn is actually the beginning of the cycle. In an excerpt, he suggests that "the dynamics of the fall of the year have the sweep of a great symphony or an epic poem." That may explain why so many poets have reflected on this...