Song: Like Jesus Would | Order My Next Book! Friends, I'm in Vermont with my mom and dad as dad recovers from surgery. I love even this late fall, where the leaves are falling all around. And I love hanging out with my family. It means I'm missing Halloween at home, where some 200 people will knock on each of our doors. Ken will take care of that, but I'm sad to miss it. But what I get is spending a fair amount of time discussing politics, discussing church, and eating good food with my...
4 days ago • 3 min read
Workshops with Liz | Flamy Grant Album Church Friends, So far, Tuesday and Friday wins for when I should be sending out the newsletter. You still can reply and tell me some other input. I've been traveling--Denver, Philadelphia, Vermont, and Des Moines is coming up. I got to do some consulting, visit some family, see Church in action. It means I've been away from my own church. I'm glad to be home for a couple weeks. -Liz The Radical Nature of Halloween I remember one halloween when I...
7 days ago • 3 min read
3.5% Rule | Song: Mother's Prayer | Friends, I love Joel 2:28. I really believe in this idea that God's spirit pours out on all people. I imagine a crowd of people all filled and speaking. Perhaps this is where people who speak in tongues get their motivation. The lectionary pairs this with Luke 18:9-14, thus implying that the spirit might be on everyone, but we are to express that "full of the spirit" feeling in private. But public prayer has a place when it is not haughty and performative....
13 days ago • 5 min read
White Supremacy Culture | Bigger, Faster, and More | Good Friends, Don't miss the October 18 No Kings protests! Consider dressing up as a frog (like the plagues in Egypt) if you can possibly find a costume. Remember that non-violence is the key to getting more people involved in the movement. Also, driving by and honking is a great alternative if you can't stand out for hours. -Liz More White Dominant Culture We talked on Monday about White Dominant Culture*. I'd like for us to spend more...
19 days ago • 3 min read
White Dominant Culture | Something Else | Good friends, Corrections are done on my book, I'm exercising five days a week, fall is finally here in New England. Most importantly, it is raining. Hopefully this Northeaster will bring a great deal of rain because we need the water. I head off to Denver to see family, but also to teach Spiritual Neighboring. It's a course on spiritual care for people without homes, in prison, people who can't get out of their homes. I'm excited to engage with...
22 days ago • 4 min read
Dignity Act | INA 245(i) | Friends, I've got corrections for my next book here on my computer, with my edits-of-the-editors-edits due on Monday. Which means I'm doing lots of writing, and editing, and grinding my teeth when I can't figure how to fix this one section just right. The book is a lenten study, and somehow I failed to write forty lenten reflections before I turned it in. How do you just fail to write the correct number? I mean I get how I could have written poorly. But just seven...
26 days ago • 3 min read
Hating Cities | Resistance Revival Chorus Friends, They are coming after our cities. But hating cities is not a new thing. But Jeremiah calls us to love where we land, including in the city. I live almost in rural land (it can't really be rural, there is a mall). I love the woods and the farms. But that doesn't mean I should accept the call to be afraid of cities. Try this one on this week! -Liz Love the City Jeremiah 29 offers instructions (from God) for life in exile. Jerusalem has been...
29 days ago • 4 min read
Can we hate, too? | Paradise in Troubled Water | I have corrections on my next book. That mostly causes panic, I've got to make changes in the next two weeks. But also, I have a book coming out in December! When Did We See You? is a Lenten Reflection on poverty and wealth from Upper Room Books. As soon as I finish the edits I can go back to being excited about it. -Liz Love Your Enemies I hate this commandment. I mean, I love that it's there. I love that Christianity is so countercultural in...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
How I long for Peace | Life After Doom Friends, I went to Harvest Fest in Underhill Vermont on Saturday. The day was glorious and the booths were packed. Great art, great food, great music, and clearly a community pulling together. The world is doomed and we are out there being friendly, and enjoying beauty. At first the contrast was overbearing. But then I wondered, maybe it isn't contrast. Maybe this is how we save our nation, one lovely, welcoming neighborhood festival at a time. -Liz Be...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read