But, when finally, I learn the ring-ness of human things, how rhythms pulled away aren’t left behind at all. I know I walk in shoes that are not mine.

It is on the scaled-down switch backs of mid-mountain trails that we find the most opportunity to live with embodied empathy. In the day-to-day of human living, we are to let our love to genuine

Taylor Short writes on the possibilities that bloom from accepting dandelions as beloved parts of our divine world.

Mary Jo Robinson writes poetry that illuminates how the sacred may be found in ordinary nature.

Elizabeth Bergen writes on motherhood, and how God eases our exhaustion with divinely-aided rest.

Ashley Wheeler shares her thoughts on the messy joys of youth in sacred community.

This is the first blog in a series originating from a writing course led by Ellie Roscher, centering on the sacred ordinary. The authors read and wrote essays designed to make ordinary moments shine, and we are grateful for the opportunity to share these essays with the Church Anew audience.

Rev. Dr. Char Cox fondly reflects on one of her favorite times of year in this poem.

Rev. Dr. Char Cox fondly reflects on her Sunday School exprience in this poem.

Rev. Dr. Char Cox fondly reflects on her Sunday School experience in this poem.

You are invited to focus on your personal regrets by both naming and reframing them, and by so doing, nourish in a particular way, God’s call for both your present and your future.

You are invited to focus on where you regularly invest your attention by considering what captures your time, energy, thoughts, and imagination in everyday life.

Christmas was not, for me, a time of joy and happiness, and it certainly wasn’t yet about celebrating God in the flesh having been born among us. Christmas was just lonely and sad.