Imago Voices
In my life, I have not been a stranger to grief, and I imagine many of us could say the same. However, how do you cope with this process in a healthy, positive way? I am a visual artist, more specifically a ceramicist. I learned to use my own personal narrative in my art, and at the same time, using those experiences to speak and connect to my audience.
Read MoreThe two constants in my life have always been my struggle with faith, and comic books. I am very new to Imago Dei, but it will probably comes as no shock to anyone who goes there on a regular basis, that I found Imago through Bryan and Laura Holmes. Like them, I often find wisdom in works of fiction, my favorite being that of a “graphic” nature. Puns aside, I have always gained a sense of morality through the lense of the astonishing. I also grew up in the Catholic Church, which comes with its own lense of penance and guilt, so naturally my favorite characters are those who struggle and lose faith.
Read MoreAfter living nearly 60 years, you get accustomed to experiencing new beginnings, or new stages in life. My first truly significant new beginning was when I met Kathy. We quickly fell in love and started spending more and more time together.
Read MoreThe new year is a blank canvas on which we paint the very best picture of ourselves — the version of ourselves we wish we could be. And I’m naturally one of those people who is always looking towards the next new thing: a move, a new notebook, a Monday morning, or literally anything resembling a new beginning. I have this idea that once I reach the next stage, then I will have made it; will have time to rest; will be a better person.
Read MoreI find it fascinating that books find you at the right time. After Josh’s message on New Beginnings, I read Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ book, Faithful Gardner. I had to stop to take a breath as I cried on the treadmill.
Read MoreFor much of church history, the church functioned within a patriarchal model — one male at the top who was shaping and discerning the doctrines and direction of the Church. However, when Jesus first established the church, he never commissioned one individual person with supreme authority. Instead, Jesus chose a team of twelve to shape the Church.
Read MoreI’m a cargo shorts/flip flops kind of guy. Through my 69 years, I have stayed in that attire into December, sometimes January. I have noticed that in recent years, I have been shedding the aforementioned attire and slipping into jeans and tennies earlier and earlier. Part of me says, “You’re getting soft; you’re caving in, man. Slacker.” Another part of me says, “Lying frozen to death in a snowbank doesn’t lend itself to making new beginnings...unless, of course, death is your new beginning.”
Read MoreThis Sunday, we will be in the third week of our series New Beginnings. In the past few weeks, we have discussed the importance of looking back and taking stock of what lessons we have learned and naming areas where we have been hurt or ways we have been formed. In week two we talked about the challenges of grieving.
Read MoreIs it possible that one could derive their worth/value for being the worst of the worst? Does being worse than anyone else set me apart as special in my mind? Does that make me and my situation unique? If I am the exception to every rule, then does that make me exceptional?
Read MoreWhen you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A firefighter? President? A beauty pageant queen? A power ranger? A princess-warrior-interior decorator-chef? When I was young, I wanted to be a teacher and a missionary.
Read MoreSometimes we believe in new beginnings, opening ourselves up to new ideas. Sometimes we make new beginnings, taking action in some way — big or small. Sometimes we become a new beginning, coming alongside someone else’s story in a significant, embodied way.
Read MoreIt's hard to say what my favorite part of the Formation Community was. Getting away. Being at Chiara Center. The trees. Generous listening. The reflection papers. Having solitude. Journeying together. What initially drew me to commit to the two years, and was the hardest to keep at the forefront, was "naming your desire."
Read MoreI was a part of Formation Community 4, which just finished up this past October. I chose to begin the journey of the retreats because I honestly just needed quiet and time away. I’m a married, working mother with two young children. I manage a household, referee two rambunctious children, run a home music studio, sing in a professional choir, teach college music courses, and lead worship. I was “dangerously tired” in every possible way. My soul NEEDED rest.
Read More“Hurry up! Christmas is almost here! I hope I can find some joy and peace myself.” Does that sound like you?
Read MoreI am generally the type of person who does what they should because they should. I like to improve and reach goals, and I find comfort in consistency (...I sound really fun, I know). So, I have never really minded guardrails. Previous religious affiliations have been great at providing a set of guardrails - I knew what to do and what constituted “having faith” and “having a relationship with God.”
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