I am in a season of continually reinventing myself. In the second year of living abroad, my husband and I are talking seriously about the future. We are asking questions about whether we should stay for another year and what it would look like with any of the many possibilities available to us.
It’s a process for the whole family and top at the list for going home to the United States for our girls is Repeat the dog who is being well cared for by family members but it’s still a source of sadness.
My husband is awaiting news from the US Army after being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. There are so many things that could happen only some of which are in our control. At the same time, I am finally about to graduate from the University of Redlands with my Certificate in Spiritual Direction and am imagining what it looks like to finally launch this ministry.
I don’t quite know where to land as everything changes. I have been thrilled to write for Seasons of the Spirit these past two years but you may have heard that the entire publishing house just closed. It came as a shock to all of us and it has left a void for me. I put so much creativity energy into that good work that I’m feeling a little off kilter and so I’m daydreaming a lot about what this new ministry might look like and how I’ll use my words. I’m wondering about traveling and how best to prepare my kids for returning to school in the United States. Or maybe we’ll stay and something I can’t even imagine yet will happen.
There are a lot of possibilities and a lot to dream about so I feel a little all over the place but I’m hoping that’s just the mess of creativity leading into a masterpiece. Or, I pray, several fabulous works of art to inspire and engage. For now, I’m sharing a bit of what I’ve has been tinkering around in my kitchen and a few other things that have gotten me excited about the church.
Pentecost Blessings
Pentecost, like so many other church celebrations, is an actual holiday here in Germany even though most Germans don't seem to go to church. Sunday is just another day to hike for most though I did see a banner for some very interesting looking all-weekend praise gathering that required me to Google Translate the word that ended up meaning Pentecost. Of course, I no longer remember it.
Almost everything on my blog reflects some moment in time in the pandemic but I can still hope that these Pentecost Affirmations are timeless. We are still trying to figure out how to live beyond what changed us in that three years or more so that finding words to claim our faith might have particular power in celebration of the birth of the church.
There are also prayers for Pentecost including the snippet of prayer above inspired by the beloved hymn. It omits the second stanza which speaks to what was happening back then in 2020 and speaks to what I always hope Pentecost will be.
Last but not least, Wind Power is an opportunity to worship outside in the glory of creation and share in conversation as you fly kites together. This doesn’t need to be something that happens on Sunday morning but certainly could. It could also be something that is adapted for something less liturgical for more fun.
Adventures Abound
The best part about living in Europe is all of the amazing places that are so easy to visit. We have been taking advantage of every opportunity to travel and look forward to Malta, London, Denmark, Slovenia and Croatia this summer. While I had grand intentions of sharing all our adventures, I have only added a few including our recent trips to Porto and Holland.
I took a weekend to myself in Cologne where I met up with one of my oldest friends and it was there that I started to daydream about some downloadable retreat guides. Retreats are so often a big expense requiring a continuing education fund, childcare and time. It’s hard to find all of these things and I want there to be something that I possible to find rest and renewal for an afternoon in a beautiful place that might be be so far away. I started daydreaming about this in Lent and so I started with gardens thinking particularly about Holy Week but as summer is approaching I started having ideas about the beach. They’re not ready yet but they are inspired by all of these adventures I’ve been thrilled to enjoy and I hope they are a gift to those that use them.
Speaking of resources, I’ve been slowly adding some familiar resources to on Dandelion Marketplace where I have launched my Holy Threads shop. This is also where these retreat resources will be offered and if you are interested in being the first to know when I finally finish editing these two retreats, please sign up for Prayer Threads where you will hear a lot more about my spiritual direction practice.
Pride Sunday
My friend Anna Kriesle has just released a FREE resource with an entire liturgy centered on Matthew 5:13-16 that includes a children’s sermon, some sermon seeds and some gorgeous music suggestions. Anna is a brilliant liturgist and I’ve been thrilled to sit in the pews and call her my pastor. I’m excited about this new adventure as she offers worship and online ministry consulting as well as some coaching services for preachers and ministry leaders in Water and Wheat.
If you didn’t get an email announcing your download is here like I did, be sure to download this amazing Pride Sunday Bundle and then be sure to see what else Anna might dream up.
Summer Worship
Pride means that summer is upon us and with it comes a whole host of other holidays. For those in the United States, I have prayers for both the Fourth of July and Labor Day in my archives but they are for another year in the Revised Common Lectionary.
I was never one to opt for a sermon series when I got to plan weekly worship in the congregations I’ve served but I did want something to tie the weeks in Ordinary Time together. In my first church, where I did not make all the decisions, my colleague opted for one set liturgy for the whole summer. It meant we reused the bulletins each week and heard familiar prayers though not everything was the same each week.
For those that might be interested in doing this, I created a downloadable editable file for you to tailor your own worship through the summer. This is a great thing for all churches to do. Big churches can think critically about what it means to save all that paper week to week and smaller churches can allow their staff to enjoy a slower pace that doesn’t require weekly worship production. I wrote a bit more about this blessing here and you can download the editable template here.
More Daydreaming
I hope and pray there is more daydreaming and imagination for all of us in the days and weeks ahead. I’ll be praying with you and for you and hope you’ll remember me in your prayers too.
This is all fantastic. thank you so much.