Rev. Jenn's Blog
No Monuments Required
Those of us who preach regularly have our own process for discerning what texts to discuss and/or themes to cover, and which concerns need our attention. Weeks before events unfolded in Charlottesville, Va., I chose a portion of Acts 17 to describe how we as God’s...
Choose a Way
True spirituality isn’t passive. Deep, rich spiritual lives, the kind which inform all we are and all we do, require continual engagement and participation. Yet sometimes we fool ourselves into believing that we can sit around waiting for God to “do” something, or...
Better With Prayer
The spiritual life offers copious instructions on prayer. We’re told to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16), to give thanks as we pray (John 11:42), to ask and we shall receive (Matthew 7:7), and to trust because God already knows what we want (Luke 12). Yet,...
Faith All Around
When something annoying, aggravating, confounding, distressing or upsetting occurs in our lives, we can choose to remain unhappy in the situation. Or, as former Daily Word Editor Martha Smock advises, we can choose to meet it with faith. Martha encourages us to...
Finding Our Way
Some people say that everyone is our teacher and every experience offers a lesson. Perhaps, though it isn’t absolute. No matter the teacher or experience, the wisdom we seek requires an inner journey. I discovered this truth as a young executive in Washington, D.C....
Let it Roll
Sometimes life sends us drifting out to sea. Like an experience I had one summer at the New Jersey shore. I was swimming in the ocean with my friends, riding waves. I lost track of time. First one wave knocked into me. Then another. I noticed dark clouds...
Door to the Soul
Few of us are free of the strictures of time. We have appointments, deadlines, places to be, people to see, things to do. Sometimes we believe that our success lies in checking another obligation off our to-do list. Despite ourselves, especially when we want a...
Our Championship Call
In this season of graduations and ordinations, the Women’s College World Series, French Open, Stanley Cup Finals and NBA Playoffs, I remember that once I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer. I belonged to an aquatic club, and trained with an Olympian. I swan thousands...
A Way to Peace
No matter what is occurring in the world or in our lives, we can choose to be peaceful, to be the peace we seek. To achieve this, we would do well to invest in personal times of stillness and silence. These times of contemplation, meditation, prayer and reflection...
Growing All The Time
Sometimes, as we take the first small steps forward, plant the first seeds of change into our lives, we wonder whether we’re getting anywhere or accomplishing anything. We know that we’re “supposed” to grow; yet when we seek signs outside ourselves, the landscape...
Trust God’s Will
Staying faithful requires that we release preconceived notions about how our lives “should” unfold. It also requires that we cease giving God directions and follow the directions and guidance always available to us. In their life-transforming work The Quest: A...
Faith and Expectation
“To expect the good, to expect answer to our prayers — this we think of as faith. The other half of expecting is waiting, and we do not often associate waiting with faith. In fact, if we pray with great faith and expectation and our answer does not come immediately,...
Thriving in a Drought
Last week, I retreated along the Frederica River in Georgia. In the evening, I watched the sun set gold, pink, red and purple as sailboats dropped anchor for the night. In the morning, I meditated at my bedroom window, gazing at the river’s gentle flow. Such a...
Considering Pure Faith
“Pure faith is faith that is moving beyond the mental egoic level of discursive [rambling] meditation and particular acts to the intuitive level of contemplation. . . . Pure faith is the proximate [immediate or closest] means of union with God.” -- Thomas Keating
Forgive Our Trespasses
A year before my father died, I accompanied my parents to an event which involved audience participation, including rising for “The Star Spangled Banner.” Sometimes we read aloud and sang. Dad, who had a rich, baritone voice, sang a little, but mostly he was...
An Inspirational Thought on Faith
“ . . . You already have all the faith you will ever need. . . . You don’t gain faith; you discover it and you direct it. The issue is not how much faith you have, but where your faith is invested. You have faith on many different levels and in many different ways,...
Moment with the Stranger
Years ago, while studying abroad in London, I developed what I thought was a deep callous on the bottom of my foot. I treated it with ointment and patches, but it only grew larger. My foot ached when I walked. One day, my English mum saw me wince in pain. Before I...
A Path of Love
As spring unfolds, on a day of abundant sunshine in a bright, blue sky, I visit a new park. My friends and I wander in various directions, and I find myself on a winding path. I pause at a lake and admire the fountains. I stop in an azalea grove and see the first...
In Sync
This is how it happens, how we discover that life is synchronicity. If we’ve been doing our work, taking our (at least once) daily time for contemplation, meditation, prayer and reflection, we’re synchronizing ourselves to the rhythm and flow of life. We’re honing...
Show Me the Money
In this sermon from September 2016, I tell part of the story from Cameron Crowe's 1996 movie, Jerry Maguire, explaining the difference between being a pay-check player versus a heart-centered one. When we remember that God is our agent, the source of all...
Self-Worth, Not Net Worth
In this sermon I preached in October 2016, I share the importance of knowing that our divinity and our feelings of self-worth are deeply connected. When we remember that we are human beings, much more than human "doings" or "havings," we feel better about...
Waiting and Waiting and Waiting Some More
The path around the pond is gray. The grass, normally lush this time of year, lies in brown clumps and pale green patches. Even the hanging moss looks beleaguered, drooping from dry limbs. The pond itself is half its size and the fountain is still. A dull mechanism...
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