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Grief and Parenting, Part 5678
I didn’t take my daughters to my mother’s grave. I meant to. It was something that I intended to do while we were in the area for my sister’s wedding. My brother had even asked if we could go together.… Continue reading
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Bless This Mess
In the days before my second child was born, I watched my toddler play while I flipped through the pages of Bless this Mess: A Modern Guide to Faith and Parenting in a Chaotic World. I read every word offered… Continue reading
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Ingredients for Ascension Sunday Communion
As I was trying to fall asleep last night and the baby growing inside of me was kicking my insides with every bit of strength she’s got, I realized that I had agreed to preside over communion on Sunday. I… Continue reading
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Making Things Beautiful Or What Might Otherwise Be Called Nesting
I used to paint watercolors. I was an art major in college. I thought that making things beautiful would be my life’s ambition until the overwhelming fear that I couldn’t hack it as a full time artist set in. I… Continue reading
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Ingredients for Worship in Holy Week
Though I’ve continued to write liturgy throughout the season of Lent for my lovely church here in Texas, I have completely failed to pepper my blog with any of those prayers. I managed to share semi-regular posts during Epiphany but… Continue reading
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A Service to Break Down Walls on Ash Wednesday
Sometimes cooking begins just by opening the pantry and realizing that that something delicious with peanut butter (because you mysteriously have a surplus of peanut butter) sounds really good. That’s kinda how this service came together. It all started with… Continue reading
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70,000 Words
Earlier this month, I took a Memoirs 101 online class with the Writer’s League of Texas. The instructor emphasized structure and form, both of which feel like high ideals for the random assortment of memories that are currently cobbled together… Continue reading
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Prayers for Epiphany 5C and 6C
I am blessed and honored to continue to cook up liturgical elements for worship at the United Christian Church in Austin. Admittedly, it feels like I haven’t been in the kitchen in a very long time. I’m editing more. I’m… Continue reading
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Grief in the Midst of Joy
In just four days, it’ll be thirty-two years since she died. It will be thirty-two years since my mother died. I have to pull out a calculator every year to subtract from the current year. Surely, it hasn’t been that… Continue reading
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Fear, Love and Another Supreme Court Decision
Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided by a 5-4 vote to uphold the ban on transgender service members fulfilling their call to service in the United States military. It was said by one woman just four years short of retirement in… Continue reading
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Featured
Let’s get cooking
Cooking is always about imagination and possibility. It’s about what these things can become together and I don’t think using words to attempt to approach God is any different.
We need each other to find inspiration. We share recipes and try new things. We wonder about what else could work even when don’t feel the least bit creative.
These pages are all about helping each other to cook up some good trouble. If you don’t find what you’re searching for above, please drop me a line to see if we can stir up some goodness together.
WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN
There are stacks of cookbooks in my actual kitchen and probably a sink full of dirty dishes leftover from another delicious feast but my virtual kitchen is full of liturgies and resources to pepper the worship experience in your congregation with love and hope. Find something new over in my kitchen.
“Cooking [up good worship] is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
— Harriet Van Horn (adapted)
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Cooking with Elsa 