Many of us today approach faith with both longing and skepticism. Some of us grew up in church and are reexamining inherited beliefs; others are discovering spiritual practices for the first time. Many of us are deeply invested in questions of justice, community, meaning-making, and how ancient Scripture speaks into our own lives (or even if it does).

I think about all these people floating around in the world who aren't gonna walk into a regular church – for whatever reason. When I started asking, “What are those reasons?”, there were so many answers that sounded like: “I found this thing that is meaningful, but someone said you can’t do it that way.” And the throughline became me saying: “Why? Why not?”

And Jesus says, I’m the way.
You have me.
You already know everything you need to know because you know me.

We need Mary in our life of faith too. Our Tower to guide us, to hold us up, to offer shelter, to remind us that we too can show up even as we grieve and struggle to trust and speak our faith out loud. We need Mary the Tower to hold us steady when we cannot be steady ourselves.

My spiritual director asked me, “Have you ever heard of Mary, Untier of Knots?”

What about when I open the door for someone whose arms are full? When I stopped to smell the lilacs while walking in my neighborhood? When I didn’t respond to that mean email with another mean email? Let this offering be acceptable, O Lord.

I know some countries and companies are flirting with 4 day work weeks, or 6 hour workdays and finding increased happiness and productivity among their employees. They aren’t being lazy, but have learned what I have - there is so much more to life than work. 

For the next few columns, I want to start sharing with you profiles of other folks who are engaged in Multi-vocational Ministry. Their examples will add depth and breadth to how we see multi-vocational ministry, and we can also see through their stories real-life examples of how people are living out these callings, as well as areas where they need more support and guidance.