by Carol Dixon,
Now that summer appears to be waning in NE England and damp and drizzle herald approaching autumn I decided to look through some of my photos of flowers to remind me of the beauty I have enjoyed during the past few months from the dainty garden flowers (including our golden wedding rose) the common ordinary ones we often refer to as weeds in our local country park to the exotic beauty of the flowers in the tropical gardens on Tresco.
I also thought about some of the poems I had written over the years across the seasons.
DANDELIONS
smiling in the sun;
the glory
of their golden heads
defying
the label ‘Weed’
Clocks
turning to thistledown,
dancing
like fairies, borne on
evening
air – wispy seeds
creating
DANDELIONS
POPPIES
By a farmer’s field near Denwick
A patch of poppies grow,
A flash of brightest scarlet
They set the view aglow,
While their delicate tall neighbours
In a lovely deep cerise
Enhance the golden landscape
With their glorious sense of peace.
PANSIES (pensees) in France
Purple pansies shivering in a pot,
the early sunlight on their smiling faces
defying the frosty earth;
velvet petals, cold to the touch,
silky soft, promises of summer…….
Memories of warmer days in Italy and France:
red-barned farm in the Suisse Normande,
chattering chickens and voluble farm wives,
excited dogs and solid farmers
in blue overalls, leisurely leaning
across the fence for an afternoon smoke:
‘B’jour m‘seur, m’dame,’
with the quiet courtesy of the country kind;
And a solitary cross in pitted stone –
purple pansies at its foot –
remembrance of young men lost
in battles long forgotten.
DAFFODILS
Upon the hills, the daffodils
trumpet an Easter blessing;
their multi-faceted faces
framed by spear-shaped sepals
gleaming golden in the sun,
bonny as Easter bonnets
bobbing in Pace-procession.
Below the hill, the daffodils
quiver, like frilly yellow tutus
in the motion of the dance,
while the soft wood wind ruffles
budding trees, gently rousing
from their winter sleep.
By woodland ways and fold
of hills, the dancing daffodils,
herald the splendour of the Spring;
their bold, bright beauty proclaiming
to the waiting, waking world:
‘Come alive!’
EARLY SUMMER
Sitting in the sunshine
eating melon, showered
with cherry blossom petals
– a summer snowstorm;
Watching the flakes
covering the cloth
like confetti,
dead fly swimming
in tea cup…
time to go fishing.
SUNFLOWERS
Sunflowers – tall and straight,
yellow faces beaming in the rain,
speaking of golden glory
smiling through tears,
memories of summer sunlight
living on till autumn days;
heads shaken by the disturbing breeze,
gently rocking – unperturbed,
promise of radiant life
and summer days, gone
but not forgotten.
As I pondered on the pictures and read through the poems I had written, it made me think of how barren our world would be without the beauty of flowers which reminded me of a children’s hymn I learned when my kids were young: Think of a world without any flowers which seems even more apt in these days when we are thinking of climate change.
In autumn I miss the flowers but there is still much to praise God for and I am blest to see the changing leaves in their glorious array of colours and on crisp dry days still enjoy the childish pastime of scrunching through the heaps of fallen leaves under the trees with my grandchildren as we search for conkers.
A carpet of autumn leaves – photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash.com
Many years ago, my family bought me a book that reflects the changing seasons in our lives. It is called ‘For everything a season’, from the book of Ecclesiastes – which I don’t often read- but the famous passage from which it takes its title gives me much food for thought as I ponder on it.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (New Living Translation)
For everything there is a season,
A time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
This autumn in my life, I have a few different things coming up – replacement knee surgery which will make walking easier in the future, a cataract removed from my eye so I will be able to see more clearly, and hopefully another injection in my right middle finger (which will make writing & typing much easier!). The waiting time has been difficult and I am not looking forward to being incapacitated for a few weeks but once I have recovered I hope that the new ‘season’ in my life will give me a better quality of life by the time the season changes again I may be skipping along the woods with my grandchildren and able to see the insects in their bug garden!
photo by Carol Dixon
In many ways the changing seasons give us great hope as we reflect on God’s faithfulness to us in all the seasons of our lives as an old hymn we used to sing in church reminds us:
Through all the changing scenes of life? (Click the link to view Youtube video)
by Rev. Brenda Griffin Warren,
Image of St. Ninian of Whithorn preaching to the Picts of Scotland in the 15th c. manuscript,
Book of the Hours of the Virgin and Saint Ninian [EUL MS 42] in the University of Edinburgh Library.
NINIAN OF WHITHORN
Feast Day, August 26/September 16
Encircling Prayer
On this 26th day of August, we meet Bishop St. Ninian of Whithorn. He is considered to be the first apostle to Scotland.
Ninian, also known as Ringan and Trynnian, was a very industrious apostle, missionary, and Bishop, to say the least! Ninian evangelized not only the southern Picts who lived in western Scotland, but he also preached throughout southern Scotland, south of the Grampian Mountains, and conducted preaching missions, as far north as the Moray Firth. It is possible that he preached as far south as the Lake District of England.
Ninian’s famous monastery that he founded was at Whithorn, located in Southwest Scotland, and is considered by some to be the “cradle of Scottish Christianity.” Whithorn may have originally been named Candida Casa as in Latin it means, “white or shining house.” In Old English, this was translated as whit æurn from which was derived Whithorn. It is said that Whithorn was built of stone painted a gleaming white which was reminiscent of the Roman churches cloaked in marble.
Ninian was born about 360AD, most likely in the area now known as Cumbria in Northwest England, perhaps near the city of Carlisle and Hadrian’s Wall built by the Romans. His father was either a priest or the chief of a local tribe that held land on both sides of the Solway Firth, a narrow inlet of the sea that forms part of the border between England and Scotland.
It seems that Ninian, like many of the other Celtic saints, must have been a lover of nature and creation. Edward Sellner in his Wisdom of the Celtic Saints records the story of St. Ninian and his encircling prayer. St. Ninian liked to visit his flocks and the huts of his shepherds. He wanted the flocks of sheep to also be partakers of the blessings like humans were. When the animals were gathered together in one place at the end of the day, Ninian raised up his hand and prayed that they would all be protected by God. Then he went around the flock and with his staff, drew a circle around them, praying that all within that circle would be safe.
As we are in a time of pandemic in which over 4.4 million have died worldwide as of August 2021 and some of those surviving this horrific Covid disease are sadly being left with lifetime disabilities. Pastors, church leaders, parents, grandparents, siblings, pharmacists, EMS, along with a huge contingent of medical personnel and hospitals are particularly overwhelmed and exhausted with all the extra care and services that they are providing during this pandemic. We will also remember those who are ill with Covid and those who have heartbreakingly lost loved ones to this devastating illness. This would be an appropriate time for all of us to encircle them in our prayers for strength, wisdom, courage, healing, hope, comfort, and protection.
Caim/Encircling Prayer
Circles have always been important to the Celts. Even the early medieval Celtic and Anglo-Saxon monasteries were often placed inside a circular enclosure as St. Ninian’s Whithorn Monastery likely was.
Encircling prayers, also known as caim prayers, are especially dear to the soul of the Celts. The word caim is a Gaelic word derived from the root word for “circle” and for “turn.”
These encircling prayers are often used to pray for protection and healing and are certainly appropriate for each of our lives and our world during this unusual time in modern-day history.
As you pray a caim prayer as St. Ninian did, draw an imaginary circle clockwise with your index finger around yourself or around the person or group of people or pets for whom you are praying. You can stay in one place and circle with your finger or you can physically turn your body clockwise as you pray and point with your index finger. Here is an example of how you might pray a caim/encircling prayer:
Encircling Prayer
(Caim Prayer)
Circle (name of person, pet, hospital, organization), Lord.
Keep (name the good you want or desire) near and
(name the problem/disease to be removed) afar.
Circle (name), Lord.
Keep comfort near and discouragement afar.
Keep peace and protection within and turmoil out.
Circle (name), Lord.
Keep hope within and despair without. Amen.
May St. Ninian’s prayerful influence continue to be felt in our world that is in desperate need for healing, hope, and the good news that we are infinitely loved and cherished by the God of the universe.
If you would like to learn more about St. Ninian and other Celtic and Anglo-Saxon saints, you are invited to click on the link to my site, www.saintsbridge.org
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post and photos by June Friesen August 2021,
38-40… Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.” 41-42 The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
In today’s world, we have had to take some time the past 18 months and slow down… in fact, about 16 months ago, life came to a halt pretty much worldwide and humanity was slowed down like they had not been in a very long time. It did not take long until people were bored, frustrated, anxious,… some became angry, defiant, while others cowered in fear.
CHANGE… we often talk about change yet do little to implement change. For much of humanity, we like and embrace certainty and predictable life. We are more comfortable that way.
As I think about the story of Mary and Martha, I often want to be like Mary yet my Martha traits tend to take over, and off I go. We are moving into change in nature presently… for some, it is a time of harvest and then the earth will take a rest. The plants will yield their harvests and humanity will gather, preserve and enjoy. For people, it, too, should be a time of slowing down as travel sometimes becomes a bit treacherous with weather conditions changing. This is when ‘Mary time’ becomes a gift one can embrace and allow the spirit to be nurtured and warmed as one allows the fire of God’s Spirit to prepare for new life to awaken in time.
For others, it is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts as the earth awakens once again. For people in these areas, it becomes a time of stretching, breathing deeply of the newness of life… watching eagerly for what is sprouting. This is also a time when one can embrace God’s presence in the gardens, the woods, the paths, the lakes… being encouraged to let God awaken one’s spirit to new life.
A few years ago I came upon this statue and I could not help but stop and stay awhile. I allowed myself to be this young woman… and this is what I heard Jesus say:
by June Friesen
COME – AND SIT A WHILE
Is your heart aching with unspoken pain?
Is there agony within that seems so controlling –
Holding you in bondage to the past you want to leave behind?
Is there no one you trust to share your deep pain?
Has there been continued condemnation time and time again?
Have the answers given seemed to roll off tongues
With little care or real understanding?
Answers like –
Trust and follow God – He will make it all better.
Or you just need to pray harder and it will go away.
Or just grow up and get over it.
Or that was years ago – you need to live in the today.
It really cannot be that bad and on and on.
Jesus truly will listen; that really is true –
But He also looks for those here on earth
Who are willing to share His listening, caring and understanding heart
With the broken, bleeding, deeply pained ones –
Offering hope, healing, unconditional love –
So that there can truly be genuine healing and growth that is real.
As you ponder the truth of Jesus’ teaching
Where we are called to love Him
And then love all others as we love ourselves –
The call is to not make excuses
But rather yield to the Spirit to make you the person God wants you to be.
Come my friend and sit with Jesus and tell Him your story.
Come my friend and offer to sit with another encouraging them to tell their story.
Come my friend and take the hand of another offering hope, unconditional love
To promote life healing within their spirit as well.
Come my friend……sit…..listen…….care…….love.
You will be glad you did.
(Friesen 2015)
God, please allow each one of us to embrace the season of life that is at hand for us whether in nature or whether in our spirits. Help us to embrace each moment as You choose to move our spirits through the changing process. Amen.
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guest post and photos by Kaisa Stenberg-Lee,
When the pandemic hit our corner of the world, we had recently moved to a new home and were only beginning to get to know our neighbors. To our surprise, we received messages from people next to us and across the street reaching out for connection and support. All through the pandemic, our neighbors continued to be an incredible gift to us.
My husband and I have always loved long evening walks in whatever neighborhood we lived in. During the pandemic, our walks were sprinkled with friendly greetings by by-passers and my regular stops by the many Little Free Libraries along the way. More often than not, we returned home with new book treasures and with the much needed real-life connection with the outside world. I was especially thankful for our neighbors’ generous book-sharing when the public library had to close their doors for a period of time.
It was inspiring to see the generosity, creativity, and care of so many around me. I found little seed and vegetable sharing boxes, free little art galleries, art and craft material-sharing boxes, blessing boxes, little free food pantries, hope-filled art murals, paper hearts on windows, chalk rainbows on sidewalks, encouraging garden signs, and more. They were popping up all around the city!
As a spiritual director, crafter and writer, I spend much of my time listening to God with people from all over the world and sharing prayer practices and tools with others. When the pandemic hit, like many others, all of my work moved to behind screens. And while my community expanded greatly, reaching many parts of the world, I also lost physical felt-nearness with the local, praying community. I longed to share the gift of communal, tangible prayers with my neighbors.
Over the past several years, I discovered that I enjoy praying the most while I am creating with my hands, and walking or bicycling. Connection to my body’s movement and creativity have become rich pathways to prayer. As I have nurtured these practices in my own life, they have found their way into my work as a spiritual director, especially as a praying companion to children. Children have been the most generous and faithful guides for me in this journey of learning to pray with my body and listening to my body in prayer.
As a listening companion to children, I have been on a journey of crafting prayer spaces and prayer playthings that draw the eyes and hands of a child like a magnet, and that come with a sign “The kingdom of God is at hand. Please touch!”. [1]
I began to wonder, what it would be like to create a tiny prayer space in our neighborhood that would attract children and adults alike to pause, wonder and touch? A place for connectedness, play, and rest. A kind of “pilgrimage trail post” along the ordinary walk in the neighborhood, where we may encounter an invitation to listen to our own longing for God in a way that it could be touched, felt inside, and expressed.
As we begin to reconnect in this post-pandemic period, part of the healing is the work of rebuilding attachment to our geographical place, culture, and the people closest to our home. There is great value and significance in our engagement with the place and culture we live in. Humans are the happiest and healthiest when they live in communities where they are known. Our bodies were made to feel the felt sense of other bodies, nature, and places.
Some ways we can rebuild trust, create safety, and foster intimacy with the place we find ourselves in are: get to know the names of our neighbors, take regular walks in the streets surrounding our home, visit local businesses, learn about the history, culture, and traditions of the people who inhabited in the past and currently inhabit our environment, study and protect the native wildlife and vegetation, and honor the stories and traditions surrounding us.
In my own search for a deeper connection with the physical community I inhabit, I decided to create a Little Free Prayer Library ― a neighborhood prayer-sharing box for children and adults, right in front of our home. And in fact, even the building of it became a community effort as one of our skilled neighbors offered us his help in installing the library in our front yard!
I wonder, how are you rediscovering your calling and commitment to the place and people who you live amongst?
Denver-locals, please pop by our Little Free Prayer Library any time! I can’t wait to start sharing prayers with you!
And if you feel inspired to start your own Little Free Prayer Library, I would love for you to join me in encouraging children and adults to pray everywhere, anytime, and in every way, by spreading tiny sidewalk prayer-sharing boxes in communities around the world.
You can find more resources and inspiration at www.kutsucompanions.com/little-free-prayer-library. Follow hashtags #LittleFreePrayerLibrary and #OurPrayingHands on Instagram and check out @KutsuCompanions profile. If you create your own Little Free Prayer Library make sure to tag @KutsuCompanions so Kaisa can share your images with others in her stories!
Links & Resources
Books
- [1] Please Touch by Peter A. McMahon and Edwin M. Campbell
- My Monastery Is A Minivan: Where the Daily Is Divine and the Routine Becomes Prayer by Denise Roy
- The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door by Dave Runyon and Jay Pathak
- The Gift of Wonder: Creative Practices for Delighting in God by Christine Aroney-Sine
- Hello, Neighbor!: The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers by Matthew Cordell (Picture Book)
- What Grew in Larry’s Garden by Laura Alary (Picture Book)
- Maybe God Is Like That Too by Jennifer Grant (Picture Book)
- Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham (Picture Book)
This blog article was originally written for and published at Companioning Center. It was skillfully edited by Audre Rickard. You can reach Audre via her website for Spiritual Companioning editing services at: www.audrerickard.com.
Bio for Kaisa Stenberg-Lee
Kaisa Stenberg-Lee is a Finland native, and a recent Colorado resident. Prior to moving to Denver, she served as a children’s and family pastor at an international church in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. She is a trained spiritual director, and currently offers one-with-one spiritual direction, retreats, and workshops for children and adults through her private practice, Kutsu Companions. You can learn more about Kaisa and her ministry at: www.kutsucompanions.com, and connect with her on social media @KutsuCompanions.
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by Christine Sine,
This morning, I walked around one of my favourite parks called The Reservoir park because it is built over our local water reservoir. I smiled at the sign by one of the sunken rain gardens proclaiming “restoration in progress”. I walk past this sign almost every day, peer curiously at the garden it guards, but never notice any change. Further around the walk, in another similar garden and this morning there was a man hard at work. Still, no changes were obvious but maybe restoration is just beneath the surface. When it is complete, I still may not see any difference.
Restoration in progress – gardener at work – photo Christine Sine
I came home, looked outside my office window, and stared in amazement. The huge maple a couple of blocks away has a red streak in its canopy. I watch this tree change every year and that change always begins this same red streak. It is the harbinger of change, the heralder of what will come. In a few weeks, the tree will blaze in a magnificent display of glorious red autumn colours like a lantern attracting all to its beauty.
Maple changing colour – photo Christine Sine
What a contrast and so reflective of the changes God undertakes in our lives and our world. Change can happen quickly or slowly.
Some change, like that in the Reservoir garden is so slow we are not aware of it. When it happens the changes fit seamlessly into the fabric of our being or of our society and unless we look closely we still cannot see the change.
I reflect back on my own life, awed by the changes I see that fit into this category. From the wrinkles in my skin to the growing closeness of Jesus in my heart, most changes happened slowly and often imperceptibly, especially the changes in my spiritual growth. This morning, I made a list and offered a prayer of gratitude to God. The next step will be talking to a good friend who probably noticed more change than I did. Good to get her thoughts on this and write them down so that when I see something I know still needs changing, I will not get too disheartened. It is so easy to fixate on the bad and not notice the good.
What transformations are you aware of in your life that happened so slowly you hardly noticed them?
Some transformation happens quickly in a flash of brilliant colour no one could miss. Like my conversion experience, my marriage, different stages of ministry from medical practice to contemplative activist. These changes I have no trouble identifying but I still write them down. Wow, there are so many of them! So many times God stepped in with a spectacular display of power and transformed me. These changes often meant a change of location or vocation. These too I am grateful for. Not all of them were easy. Illness played a big part in major changes in my life but it is important to document them all.
What changes in your life happened in a spectacular burst of colour?
Overall a pattern emerges – spiritual changes slow, life changes fast. Ha! I want to reverse that! Why can’t the spiritual changes happen quickly I wonder?
Then my eyes drift to my latest contemplative garden, my “God’s eyes guide me” garden. Last week I turned it around so the plants will not become lopsided as they reach for the sunlight. In the process, I obscured my “God’s eyes guide me” sign. It’s still there. God’s eyes still guide me, but I can’t see them. That’s how God works, I thought. There are times when I am oblivious to God’s guidance and the sweet companionship of Jesus. Perhaps I even resent the change on the horizons, as I do when the days shorten and the temperature drops.
There is a certain relentless love to God’s guidance. It guides through all the good and the bad. It guides in spite of our determination to ignore it or choose our own path. It guides us through all the quiet and the sudden changes, the changes we think we understand and those we know we don’t.
Thank God for guidance and above all for the love that inspires it. Yes, “restoration in progress” and I thank God for it.
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I so appreciate St Andrews Episcopal church in Seattle allowing me to repost these beautiful contemplative services
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“Bring Your Peace” and “Kyrie” are original compositions by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
Što Oko Ne Vidje (What No Eye has Seen) and “Christe Lux Mundi” are songs from the ecumenical Taize community in France. Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé.
“Down in the River to Pray” is a traditional American spiritual in the public domain. Arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
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www.saintandrewsseattle.org
guest post by John van de Laar,
I’m not what you would call an ‘outdoorsy’ sort of person. I love technology, screens, and spending time in my home studio writing and recording music. But I love being connected with the natural world and its creatures. The constantly changing environment speaks to something deep inside me. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the world I encounter on the hikes I share with my wife or the small world of the garden outside my window, something about all this life that carries on with little regard for me feeds my soul in ways that nothing else can.
Right now I can feel the seasons changing. In South Africa where I live, the winter is losing its grip on the world. I can feel the sharp edge of the freezing Johannesburg mornings becoming dull. And the first signs of the life that will awaken in Spring are starting to show. Things aren’t really visibly different yet, but there is definitely a sense, a spirit, in the world that reveals the imperceptible changes that are happening in the earth.
Aligning our lives with the seasons can be a life-giving and healing spiritual practice. When we ignore the cycles of change in the natural world, we lose a sense of rhythm in our lives and our souls grow cold and empty. In the Northern Hemisphere, the liturgical calendar parallels the natural change of the seasons and offers an easy way to connect our spirits to creation. In the Southern Hemisphere, it takes some creativity and thought to engage with the seasons more deeply—but it’s not impossible to make it work.
THE SEASONS AROUND US
I have found it helpful to identify the gifts that are most meaningful for me in each season. With this in mind, I can prepare more mindfully as the seasons change and set my intention for the new season that is emerging in my corner of the earth. For example, right now I am contemplating themes like renewal, creativity, hope, and newness as I prepare for Spring. I am exploring ways that I can embrace this opportunity for renewal in my self-care, work, and relationships. I am investigating new avenues for creativity, and I am reminding myself of all the signs of hope around me.
When the season begins to shift toward summer, I will prepare myself for the abundance, sharing, celebration, and playfulness that always accompanies living under the hot African sun. Then when the leaves begin to change colour and herald the coming of Autumn, I will prepare to say goodbye to the warmth and nurture a healthy practice of letting go. I will give thanks for the gifts of the year and prepare for the coming cold and darkness. Finally, as winter returns, I will turn inward and reflect on the things that need to die within me and in my life. I will affirm my faith in the resurrection that will come in Spring, and I will make time to rest and allow my body and soul to draw strength in quieter, less energetic activities.
Following the seasons in this way creates a wonderful sense of rhythm for my spiritual and physical life, and it nurtures a deeper sense of wholeness and connectedness with the cosmos.
THE SEASON WITHIN US
This practice of preparing for new seasons as they arrive has taught me that it’s not only natural seasons that require mindfulness and preparation. The internal seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter don’t always happen in accordance with the seasons of the natural world. But they are equally important and need just as much preparation and careful practice as the more predictable seasons of the natural world.
For most people across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has been an extended winter of loss and grief, and it’s still a long way from releasing its hold on the world. The challenge was that we weren’t able to prepare—no one saw this coming when it did. But now we can practice mindfulness and intention to keep our souls healthy as we navigate this crisis and process our grief. But some of us have found ourselves in a Springtime of hope and possibility as the pandemic disrupted our normal routines and attitudes. We have discovered new ways of being and have recaptured values and dreams that may have faded under the pressure of what we used to call ‘normal life.’
Just as we take note of the changing seasons in the world around us, so we find aliveness and wholeness in noting the changing seasons within us. And the more mindfully and intentionally we can do this, the more meaningful and abundant our life becomes, no matter what may be happening around us.
A SEASONAL SPIRITUALITY
So, what’s happening outside of you? What’s happening within you? And how do these two seasonal journeys relate to one another in your own life? What changing of seasons, both internally and externally, do you need to prepare yourself for in the days and weeks ahead? And what do you need to do to be more mindful and intentional as you navigate the ever-changing seasons in your life?
A seasonal spirituality is a mindful one. It is a healthy one that recognises that every season has its place and role to play in our lives. And it is one that enables us to grow, create, play, rest, enjoy, and learn.
Bio for John van de Laar
John van de Laar is a musician, theologian, liturgist, writer, and community facilitator. His passion for spirituality and worship led him to create Sacredise.com almost two decades ago. Since that time, John has been helping progressive communities around the world to design moments of worship with deep theological roots and inspiring experiential wings.
More recently, John launched an inclusive online spiritual community (EvoFaith.com and EvoFaithTribe.com) for spiritual seekers who are struggling to find a home in traditional religion.
Along the way, John has written three books including The Hour That Changes Everything, and has produced three albums of worship music.
John lives outside of Johannesburg, South Africa with his wife Debbie, and they have two adult sons.
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