ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: It takes chosen silence—solitude—to trace the shape of a tree, to follow the movement of its growth

POEM BY KAREN ABEYTA:No body breathless or casket to cradle the weight of death. No funeral or tombstone to mark the passing when death dies unseen.

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: You give me a picture that signifies flowers, with bold lines that don't waver, uncompromising angles, controlled geometries, And I point, saying with you, "Flowers."

REFLECTION BY CHRISTINE CRAWFORD: When you came to understand she was worthy of safety, dignity, and kindness, you would return to her. Because you believed her, and loved her, and celebrated her. Because she was not invisible. And she was not nothin’.

REFLECTION BY CHRISTINE CRAWFORD: What if our hurts, questions, and doubts are the very thresholds where we are most tenderly met, deeply known, carefully held, gently stretched, and finally made whole?

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: Leaves fall in the late autumn to reveal bare branches--but also hope: furry buds tightly curled, awaiting spring warmth.

DRAW NEAR DWELL WELL PLAYLIST: A cross-genre collection to calm anxiety and inspire connection with God.

I remember, too, the sunrise. The miracleof dawn just when I deemed myselfdestined to dwell darkened forever

REFLECTION BY JENNIFER CAMP: It might be time to let go. It might be time to empty your hands. It might be time to stop grasping.

A POETIC REFLECTIONOnce we separate God from our own misconceptions and stop trying to confine him to our own categories, he is bound to surprise us, guaranteed to challenge us, and certain to change us.

SPOKEN WORD POETRY BY BLAIR WINGO - We can all be tempted to follow the version of Jesus that fits our own narrative and agendas. Which "imitation Jesus" might you be following?

WE WANNA READ YOUR POETRY: Poet Rachel Joy Welcher provides 3 poetry prompts and invites you to share your work

POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER: When will you realize, oh my soul, that there will always be a child born on the same day that someone else dies?

POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER: Do not wait to rejoice. Do not wait to enjoy. Do not save and save and forget to spend yourself...

POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER: You bring the dog with you when you think I'm sad.

POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER: What would an honest poem about marriage look like?

POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER: An imaginative reading of Psalm 137 - By the rivers of Babylon we sit and weep.

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: "Tell all the truth but tell it slant..."

POEM BY ASHTON WALTHER: What if we chose to be kind to everyone? What if we spent our days trying to be like Jesus? What if our to-do list was helping others? And our evenings spent with the sunset and the stars...

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: I’ve come to picture both the persistence of reaching out for community and the beauty and wonder that can result as these webs of connection catch hold and grow.