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Befriending Good Friday Darkness
While staying alone at a friend’s woodland cabin one Good Friday night, I turned off the lights and stepped outside for a walk. My eyes needed a few minutes to adjust until silhouettes of bushes, trees, and clumps of weeds emerged from the blackness. Darkness changes even the familiar, and while I knew where the…
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We Are Healing Ground: A Contemplative Circle of Collective Care
Shalem’s Vision 2025 sparked the Spirit in us to share about Healing Ground, a contemplative circle of collective care that echoes the values expressed in Vision 2025, especially the need to uplift historically silenced voices and to challenge injustice and systems of inequity. At Healing Ground we are transforming ourselves and the community in a…
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Lenten Spiritual Direction with My Self
Almost every day, rising from sleepI so casually hop online, and I am startled awake again, alarmed.Ukraine. Iran. Myanmar. Tyre. Ethan. Madison. Xana. Kaylee. The Clancy children. Just the recent headlines.Their names and faces are countless, really.Abuse. Torture. War. Trauma. Sex-trafficking. Homicide. Betrayals of every stripe.It dawns on me- I’m in an actual horror movie.…
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Rooted in God
While I was growing up in a small town in Southwest Minnesota, my most trusted confidant was… a tree. There must have been something about this young tree that drew me in. I remember a few notches at eye level that reminded me of eyes and a mouth, but, above all, I remember I was…
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Open Hands, Willing Hearts – Interact
Course Navigation: Learn – Interact – People – Resources Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 Praying for each other in whatever way feels right to you is the most important part of this community. You may journal in any way you wish: in a notebook, using art, or by adding a thought, comment, or journal entry with the…