The new ICN rhythm of Saturday emails has shifted to sharing an article for learning one week, followed the next week by invitations into deeper becoming through spiritual practicing, intentional forms of engaging, and opportunities for integrating into our daily lives.
Read MoreHave you ever cried out to God or the Universe to do something about the horrible wars on earth or the increasing devastation of climate change? Maybe you have earnestly prayed about the starving populations around the world or the craziness of politicians today. Have you ever wondered if your prayer did any good? Maybe you’ve even given up on such types of prayer.
Does the world change when we pray? If so, how does that work? Do we ask God to do something, and then God acts? I believe praying does change the world, but it is not us asking and then God acting. Nor is it, as some have said, us asking, and then we act.
Read MoreThroughout Lent, we held a special container of grief and glory. I want to thank you for walking this path with us—to whatever degree you have. This has been a season both of loss and invitation for our community.
Paul Smith has now transitioned from founding elder to a living ancestor in our midst. We will continue to honor and be guided by him in the years to come. We are eternally grateful for all he brought forth and shared in his life, and how he embodied and invited the spirit’s call to evolve for so many.
Read MoreFor this time of Lent, we have been moving with grief and glory. As we come to the end of this season on the cusp of Easter, we walk toward the mystical pathway and invitation of resurrection.
Read MoreLent is often practiced as a time of waiting. We all have seasons of life that are about waiting. We have seasons that feel like preparation or support for something yet to come. In these times, we can fall into the posture of simply enduring. We live in the resistance of just waiting for the time to pass, for the season to be over. For Easter and resurrection to come. Then things will be ok.
Or we can hold the times of anticipation with an eager hope. With a glorious longing.
Read MoreWhether we be in personal grief or not, we all carry and hold in some way the pain of global distress, crises, and suffering. We have feelings of powerlessness, anger, fear, and sadness. They may be close to the surface or deep within. We carry on with life, for we can only consciously be with this sorrow so much.
The spiritual practice of lament gives us a way to welcome the pain and grief intentionally and allow it to express, rather than trying to keep it contained within. This form of mourning gives us space to let the grief flow however it needs to—as a rushing torrent or a trickling rivulet.
If you are ready and feel able to move in this way, click to read more and move into the practice.
Read MoreFrom the soil of deep belonging can spring the sprouts of new creation.
From the kinship of soulful belonging in the bosom of God can we bear our divine becoming.
From the mercy of wombful belonging can enfold great care and capacity to be with pain.
From the vulnerability of authentic belonging in grief together can emerge deep healing.
From the ground of deep belonging can grow our glorious and holy longings, arising from wholeness rather than lack and loss.
Read MoreMercy in a wombful sense is a glorious way of meeting grief.
A wombful mercy springs forth not from power over, but arises from the depths of sacred Origin. The ever-present beginning-ing that is always happening.
A wombful mercy embraces our grief and holds it in the compassion of deep empathy—with us in the midst of it, from inside the womb. It remains and releases in response to what is embodied here and now. It is able to hold and let go, in the blessedly ripe and right time.
A wombful mercy evokes a more feminine way of meeting pain and dejection, less concerned with fixing or trying to absolve, it stays with us as long as we need in great care.
A wombful mercy is creative and illuminative. It gives birth to new life and wonderous conceptions.
A wombful mercy is communal, helping give birth to a new sense of ourselves. It lets go of “shoulds” for ourselves and others, freeing us into the fullness of our unique, authentic being in divine creativity—held together in communion,
How might you welcome and embody wombful mercy today and this week?
Read MoreA final sharing from Paul Smith
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