POEM + REFLECTION BY CHRISTINE M. CRAWFORD: On a rainy Sunday in April, I found myself at the big box store staring at a flat of begonias that nobody wanted. Orphaned, root-bound, reduced to a dollar a pot. I bought all of them, resurrected them, then wrote this poem with dirt still wedged under my fingernails.
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."
ANIMATED EXPLANATIONS FROM BIBLEPROJECT: What did Jesus actually teach about divorce and remarriage? There's a lot of confusion on the subject, and understanding the historical context helps clear up the theological confusion.
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?
FROM SOUL CARE: Soul Care invites you into a quiet moment of connection with God through the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (Latin for “divine reading”), which is a prayerful way of engaging with Scripture, not to study or analyze it, but to let it speak to your heart. Whether your week feels rushed or restful, this is a moment to be still and let God speak.
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.
REFLECTION BY CHRISTINE CRAWFORD ON THE CHOSEN: Darkness and light have always coexisted. That doesn't make the light less. It actually makes it more. Jesus didn't look away from the dark. He walked into it. He wept in it and over it. He let it be what it was before He did what only He could do.