making space for creativity
This year we needed to do our Ash Wednesday service at home a few days early. Between Valentine’s Day falling on Ash Wednesday, Wednesdays being our busiest days with my husband Evan having a late meeting at school, and our church having its Ash Wednesday service start after our kid’s bedtimes, it just made sense…
Like the children’s game, “Red Light, Green Light,” Pentecost Sunday can sneak up on you, a quick red week before the long green summer. Easter and Christmas are hard to miss: they each have month-long, purple-clad fasts culminating in vigils the night before to prepare our hearts and minds for the shining white and gold…
Last year, Holy Week at home with the kids was such a special time. And we are largely planning on doing the same things (You can read here a full description of what we did here: Holy Week with Toddlers), but this year I did want to try and do some Easter Vigil Readings. For…
For Lent, right before we go to bed, we’ve been lighting a candle, singing a song, and saying a short evening prayer compiled by our dear family friends Jim and June Young. During Advent and Christmastide our kids loved lighting the Advent candle with the wreath and singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” in our…
Over the past few months we’ve been developing our home church practice after Wisconsin’s weather made outdoor church services no longer possible. And while we miss church a lot, especially the eucharist, it’s been a sweet thing to do church together in a way that’s meaningful for each member of the family. I think it’ll…
Last month, I found a board book at the library about Easter for my two-year-old son Jackson. Honestly, he was most interested in the pictures of the spring bunnies and ducks, but when we got to the bit about everyone being sad that Jesus died, Jackson said “sad” in a solemn way. He’s been…
This week I was invited to preach! I was super honored and touched that our pastor invited me to be part of the regular cycle of lay people with whom he shares his pulpit. On Sunday, people were so encouraging and kind after the service. We have a pretty tight-knit little community, so it…
This past weekend for Pentecost Sunday, Jackson and I got to renew our baptismal vows while spending the weekend down in Illinois with my goddaughter Teresa and her family (Evan was in DC with his students). That is one of many wonderful things about the sacrament of baptism — several times a year as…
There are big changes afoot in our household: we’re moving to Wisconsin! At the end of February, a mere 3 1/2 weeks away, Evan and I are packing up our Maryland apartment and heading 750 miles west. We are excited and sad, peaceful and nervous. We know it’s a good and right decision to…
This weekend we drove home through the Blue Ridge mountains covered in melting snow. The sun set behind us, and a full moon rose in the rosy evening glow. It was quiet in the car. It was a weekend full of beauty and sadness. We met a new precious baby but also mourned…
The snow has been falling thick and fast in Maryland these past few days. The morning after the Christmas ball, Evan and I left for a hike with just a few flurries, and when we got back five inches had fallen. The woods were deserted except for a few birds and three bounding deer, and…
Seven years ago, when I should have been studying for finals, I took out a sharpie marker and wrote down a quote from Lauren Winner’s book, Girl Meets God. I was engaged, and my betrothed was a thousand miles away. Winner’s writings on Advent spoke to me in that cold Illinois dorm room: …
Prayer is simultaneously a very personal and very communal event. It is just you and God talking; at the same time it is part of a great and ancient conversation of the Church Universal. Throughout the Fall we’ve talked about 9 great paper prayer books (part 1 and 2), definitions of reasons to and examples…
As a follow up to last week’s little glossary of terms, I thought this week we’d actually plunge into the Book of Common Prayer, and do Morning Prayer together. In terms of the church year, we’re three weeks out from Advent, or 27 weeks after Pentecost. There are a lot of different ways you…
Hi friends! I’m so happy that it’s early November, with a tiny bit more time to write and walk through swirls of red maples leave in the chilly Autumn winds. Here in the Rogers Hays household, we’re officially at the one-month mark until Evan is finished with his student teaching. Hooray! It’s also been…