by Diane Woodrow This question of Christine Sine’s challenged me after a walk around the park with my morning dog walking crew where we discussed all things from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to climate change to Amazon deliveries and watched the Little Egrets making out on the pond.  This is our new world – of distant wars and long mild wet winters, of excitement at the return of birds to our area and the latest series on Amazon Prime. All of it is a new world. It isn’t being a grumpy old woman to say that “things weren’t like this in my day”. Yes there were distant wars and even here in ..read more

By Lilly Lewin It’s still Eastertide…Next week (May 9th) we will celebrate the Ascension of Jesus and his promise to come of the empowering Holy Spirit. It’s still Easter so we are invited to look at another story of resurrection about an early morning picnic! One of my very favorite chapters in the Bible is John 21. for me it shows us just how much we are loved by Jesus. Even when we get frustrated. Even when we’ve betrayed our faith and our friend. Even when we don’t know what we are supposed to do next so we just go back to the old and familiar. Jesus knows just where to find us and isn’t ..read more

by Carol Dixon The season of Eastertide (Easter Sunday to Pentecost) seems to be slipping by quickly this year. I have felt an inner compulsion to re-read the accounts of some of the characters who met with the resurrected Jesus and walk with them for a while. I love the way the Easter season continues further into Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and there are so many wonderful Easter accounts in the Gospels for us to contemplate over the weeks between Easter and Ascension Day/Pentecost we are sometimes spoilt for choice. Last year on Godspacelight I posted some of my imaginative Easte ..read more

by Bill Borror You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer…. John 15:14-15 For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.Teresa of Avila Fear not the coming of your God; fear not his friendship. He will not (reduce) you when he comes; rather he will enlarge you. So that you might know that he will enlarge you he not only promised to come, saying, ‘I will dwell with them,’ but he also promised to enlarge you, adding, ‘and I will walk with them.’ You see then, if you love, how much room he gives you. Fear is a suffering tha ..read more

by Christine Sine I am looking out on a very grey and cold morning here in Seattle. There is fresh snow on the Olympic mountains, a surprising contrast to the lilac bush now in full bloom outside my window. Spring is always an uncertain season with winter reluctant to give up its hold on us, while the first glimmers of summer struggle to emerge. It is a season that is always filled with growth and promise, with joy and expectation however, which I am very aware of as I look ahead to the next few weeks. I am getting ready for The Spirituality of Gardening webinar and am excited to share s ..read more

by Christine Sine Tom and I just returned from the Inhabit Conference. This is a yearly event for us that draws together a diverse group of people from across North America. I love the rich interplay that our black, hispanic, indigenous and white heritages bring to the mix of music, poetry, liturgy and wisdom we share.  I had the privilege of helping to craft and share, together with a group from many cultures and generations, our introductory liturgy which focused on God’s good dream of renewal, restoration and shalom for all of creation. I want to share some of this with you. In our br ..read more

by Emily Huff For International Dance Day, I offer this song “Lord of the Dance” that I remember from my high school youth group days. It was written in 1963 by Sydney Carter painting a picture of Jesus’ life and mission as a dance.  I danced in the morning when the world was begun, And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth: At Bethlehem I had my birth. Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the dance, said he, And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he. I danced for t ..read more

by Lilly Lewin Growing up I wasn’t allowed to express my emotions…at least not the negative ones. Especially not anger. We weren’t allowed to be angry…at least not in the middle of other people. When one isn’t allowed to feel things overtly, they go inside or have to come out in some other way. For me it wasn’t in rebellion or negative behavior, but it came out in performance and perfection. I did all the right things…made straight A’s, was student body president, and starred in the school musicals two years running. I truly thought I had to perform to be good enough for someone to love. One ..read more

In this episode Christine interviews Lilly Lewin about creativity and worship. Lilly is worship curator of ThinplaceNASHVILLE and freerangeworship.com. She takes worship outside the box, beyond singing, through multi-sensory prayer, experiential worship, and art. Lilly leads workshops, & creates Sacred Space experiences in the US and abroad. Author of Sacred Space with Dan Kimball, and articles in Youthworker Journal, & Curating Worship by Jonny Baker. Lilly Lewin shares her journey into art and worship curation including the importance of incorporating art and participatory elements ..read more

by Christine Sine Yesterday was Earth Day, celebrating a wonderful movement that began back in 1970 when protest brought together 20 million Americans—10% of the U.S. population at the time—into the streets. In response the Environmental Protection Agency was created and a wave of laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act were were enacted. This movement is now a world wide movement and there is a growing cry to make every day Earth day, to recognize that care for our planet is part of God’s mandate to all of us to be responsible stewards of all cre ..read more