The last few years, a small group of folks at St. Benedict sign up to go caroling to our elder members, who are some of the most fun and winsome people in my congregation. Some are homebound and some are not. Some sing along with us and some just listen. It’s a fun Advent tradition. Here are some practical and humorous […]
Two Sisters From Belarus 
July 30, 2014 by
I met two Beguines last week. Beguines were lay sisters – they chose a life set apart for service and religious devotion but didn’t live in convents and didn’t make life vows. They were common in Europe in the Middle Ages, although the last one died just in 2013, in Belgium. Sister Elena and Sister […]
A Prayer Map
July 18, 2014 by
We have a prayer board in our church that hangs in the hallway near the bathrooms, where people can write the names of people they love and are concerned about. Then we put the names in the Sunday bulletin for a few weeks and we have a special prayer group that prays over the names […]
The Sabbatical
July 15, 2014 by
In mid-August, I’m going on sabbatical. St. Benedict, Adam, and I have been preparing for almost two years for this time. A team of lay leaders and I wrote and won a grant from the wonderful Lilly Foundation to pay for some exciting opportunities for me, Adam, and the congregation, including a priest who will lead worship […]
12 Steps for Clergy Recovery
June 23, 2014 by
Clergy have one of those fuzzy, slippery jobs – a job where nothing and everything is in the job description. Also, because being a pastor is essentially relational, there’s an emotional subtext to almost everything we do: from presiding at a funeral, to the look on our face while shaking someone’s hand or giving them communion, to what we put in the newsletter and […]
The Most Colorful Kneelers in the Chicago Suburbs
June 17, 2014 by
In some ways, St. Benedict is like most newer churches built in the exurbs. It looks a bit like a medical office building. We sometimes wonder if people driving by even realize it’s a church if they don’t see the sign (not shown here). We have a simple, mostly unadorned interior. Even on Christmas Eve, it’s got […]
My Suburban Congregation, 2014
June 10, 2014 by
Photo taken on Pentecost Sunday, 2014, in beautiful reds and oranges!
Mother Heidi 
May 21, 2014 by
It’s a strange thing not to have children, as a young couple. It’s even stranger when you have a house in the suburbs, flexible work schedules, a dog, and you generally like people and children. But Adam and I have decided not to become parents. We discovered we weren’t able to conceive a few years […]
Becoming an Oblate
May 2, 2014 by
I’ve spent the last year in formation to become a Benedictine oblate, at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, Wisconsin. An oblate is someone who promises to follow a monastic rule in their life in the world, while staying in relationship with a particular monastery. Oblates don’t follow a rule – in this case the Rule […]
Learning to do a funeral
April 3, 2014 by
Not many people die at my church (Lord, have mercy). Many members move away to warmer places in retirement. Most current members are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, with few folks 80 and above. So, it’s taken me a while to really learn to do a funeral. Usually, the story is that a young […]
