Let’s agree to hold our loss in perspective, while not diminishing the real pain we are experiencing.

Here by the water- a poem by Delores Friesen

Head Start has a morning and an afternoon session, with different sets of parents and children for each.  What if we set up a table and offered coffee and cookies?  It’s nothing fancy or flashy – just a practical way to connect and build relationships with our neighbors.

Can we focus our faith, hope, and love on the full picture of the body of Christ, trusting that God will bring us to a place of wholeness and healing together?

In last week’s Painting as a Spiritual Practice session, we looked at light and shadow with the aid of spotlights that we set up with a variety of objects to observe: cones, cylinders, and cubes along with pumpkins and apples for a touch of fall.  

This was an exercise I felt I botched from the beginning.

What might it mean that a color I don’t exactly gravitate toward on it’s own is critical for the creation of a color I really like?

Something I had not liked at all was transformed and became the major statement of the whole piece.

Take a pair of pruning shears and lop off its head…

Fall is coming. Thanks be to God…

The theme I’m exploring for my series of 3 talks at Camp Keola Family Camp this weekend is Grounded: cultivating our spirituality through wilderness, gardening, and cooking.

Trying to mitigate against pain doesn’t prevent it.  What’s more, the unintended consequence of trying to protect myself from pain is walling myself off from love.

As so often happens for a number of us here at Willow Avenue Mennonite Church, the real work of the Sunday sermon happens after the worship service during Sermon Talk

I’ve known for a long time that there’s no such thing as doing my best.  In fact, it’s bad for me to try to do my best.

Extraordinary experiences can be really frustrating.  That is, it can be hard to put into words, to share with others who were not there, experiences that move and touch us in profound ways.  

It’s going to be a hot one this week in central California.  Besides drinking lots of water, one of the most important things to do in extreme heat is rest. 

July’s prayer walk was wonderful and surprising, as always. 

Now that you know that I’ve started learning to paint with watercolor, I don’t mind telling you what a huge Bob Ross fan I am.

It’s summertime, which means our monthly prayer walk time is now 8 a.m. rather than noon.  This change in the monthly rhythm reminds me of one of the prayer walks from last summer…

Lately I’ve had a craving. The kind of craving that keeps you up at night and distracts you from other things that you’re supposed to be doing…