We are brought together for a purpose and a message
“A few [weeks] ago we were dispersed; we did not know each other. Now we are together; we belong to each other.” This is part of a longer quote from a book by Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche community, that...
Build relationships with others this summer
You can track almost anything these days—patterns of food intake, fatigue, mood, number of steps you’ve taken, heart rate, and even how much REM sleep you got last night. This phenomenon is part of a rapidly growing movement of fitness...
Rise Up Together – create power with posture
Rising up does not mean having power over but, rather, having power with. Mary Parker Follett, a social worker who in the early 20th century became a management theorist and consultant, helps us understand the difference: “Power over is a...
Surrender to the experience
We are either baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection or, as the Rev. Richard Rohr says in his book “Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi,” “Christianity is largely a mere belonging system, not a transformational system...
Carrying the good news into the world
I promise that youth and adults who attend the ELCA Youth Gathering will return knowing the opening line of Mark’s Gospel by heart: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). They will...
The grace of a new beginning
In his poem “For a New Beginning,” John O. Donohue writes: Though your destination is not clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is one with your life’s desire. Awaken...