close up photo of painting with blue background, large black and orange brushstrokes with smaller red brush strokes.

The Spirit helps us in our weakness…for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groaning too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 I don’t know about you but I have no idea how to pray right now. The relentless waves of violence, terror, and human atrocities taking…

Read More
Group of people looking up at a starry night sky

Lectionary Readings for Epiphany: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 “They set out; and there ahead of them, went the star they had seen at it’s rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When the wise men saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.…

Read More
Graphic illustration of a winding path heading towards a mountain chain with stars above in the night sky.

We’re made for more. And yet, the road between where we are and where we want to go can feel long and uncertain and sometimes disillusioning. Many of us have become weary of the journey and impatient with the waiting, but the truth is that it is in the waiting that the unseen work of…

Read More

“God comes to us like the sun in the morning—when it is time.”—Carlo Carretto, The God Who Comes My favorite time of any day is the pre-dawn moments before the light comes. The world is dark and quiet, stretching out before me in a hopeful sort of way. Having just awakened from sleep, I am…

Read More
red and yellow flower growing next to a rusty beam

“If you aren’t resting, you are a slave to something.” – Adele Calhoun We tend to think of sabbath as being mostly about rest and replenishment—and it is!—but if that’s all we emphasize, it can come across as being rather soft. For those who were first given the gift of sabbath, it was so much…

Read More
sun beams bursting through dark clouds

“God gave us the Sabbath. Jesus taught us that we weren’t made for the Sabbath but that Sabbath was made for us. Sabbath time is our time, our chance to rest, to worship God, to forgive each other, to taste a wee bit of heaven, and to be more in sympathy with all that is,…

Read More
A variety of different doors collaged together

My favorite thing about the Easter story—aside from the resurrection itself—is reading the stories about Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances and how each one was different, uniquely suited to the person(s) he was encountering. In John 20 and 21* we witness story after story in which Jesus systematically sought out his loved ones to announce the good…

Read More

“Who can stay awake in this night of God? Who will not be as if paralyzed by it? Christ’s struggle was with God. This was his real agony. He overcame it through his self-surrender. That was his victory, and our hope.”  –Jurgen Moltmann It is a custom of the Christian church to keep vigil with…

Read More

“We have to fashion our own desert where we can withdraw every day, shake off our compulsions, and dwell in the gentle healing presence of our Lord.  Without such a desert we will lose our own soul while preaching the gospel to others.  But with such a spiritual abode, we will become increasingly conformed to…

Read More

Many of us as pastors and ministry leaders are at this very moment preparing to guide others into this most significant season of the church year. One of the great temptations of life in leadership is that we become so focused on leading others—it is our job, after all!—that we cease entering into these seasons of…

Read More
Part Five

You can also read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this series. They urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed it and…

Read More

“A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside him- or herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.” –Parker Palmer Yesterday morning we published a Beyond Words blog post highlighting the beginning of Epiphany—the season of the church year in which  we…

Read More

Lectionary Readings for Epiphany: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! Isaiah 60:1 Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. – Mary Oliver Today, in the rhythm of the church year, we celebrate the feast of the…

Read More

O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord, Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments. We thank you for the privilege of voting that is ours– an opportunity to influence the direction our country will take by choosing those who will lead us. Lord, we thank you for your law of love and justice…

Read More

“Fixed-hour prayer gives us a way to anchor our daily lives in rhythms of prayer, Scripture reading, and silence, ensuring that we do not get too far into any day without orienting or reorienting ourselves to the presence of God in our lives.” – Ruth Haley Barton The Transforming Center began when a few intrepid…

Read More
crucifix

“Lent is a spiritual season which calls for greater openness to the word of God and conversion in every area of our lives. It is a time to face the darkness within and expose it to the light. Lent is the season to confront our demons and expel them.” Michael Ford, Eternal Seasons “Jesus, full…

Read More

Originally published in 2020 this reflection feels as timely as ever. “A good journey begins with knowing where we are and being willing to go someplace else.”
 —Richard Rohr Lectionary Calendar and guidance for using the lectionary Today marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the season of Epiphany—the “showing forth” or…

Read More

This week, we release our Advent podcast season of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership podcast! If you’ve already signed up for our mailing list, you’ll get a notification for each episode. You can also watch for the episodes to be uploaded on our podcast page here: https://transformingcenter.org/strengthening-the-soul-of-your-leadership-podcast/. “Waiting is the hidden preparation through which…

Read More

Click here to read “Spiritual Direction (Part 1): A Vital Practice for Discerning Leaders.” “The whole purpose of spiritual direction is to penetrate beneath the surface of a [person’s] life, to get behind the façade of conventional gestures and attitudes which he presents to the world, and to bring out his inner spiritual freedom, his…

Read More

Eventually, someone looking for a church home will ask some variation of this question:  “So, what kind of church are you?” —Kent Carlson While signing books at a conference on spiritual formation a few years ago, a sharply-dressed, middle-aged woman approached who seemed to have no interest in purchasing a book. She marched right up…

Read More

The Transforming Center is closed today in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his courageous leadership in championing racial justice and equality through the use of non-violent resistance.  In particular, we celebrate the fact that he provided this leadership, not merely as a social activist, but as a minister of the Gospel, proclaiming the…

Read More

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’” Matthew 2:1 Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of Epiphany—the beginning of a season…

Read More
orange fallen leaves sit in rainwater on ground

“Every movement toward the humiliation of the false self, if we accept it, is a step toward freedom and inner resurrection.”  – Fr. Thomas Keating  Many of us have no idea how addicted we are to human striving, hard work, and performance-oriented drivenness until we actually stop. This may be one of the most shocking…

Read More

 “I have lived too long where I am reachable.”–Rumi It is a wonderful thing to be invited—especially when the invitation is particularly well-suited to our needs, our desires, our delights. A gifted communicator receives a significant invitation to speak on a topic that is important to them. An artist is commissioned to create banners for…

Read More
man sitting on pew in old church

 “If we don’t come apart for while, we will come apart after awhile.” –Dallas Willard Brad is a pastor whose church is going well. Attendance at weekend services is growing steadily, and they have just completed a building project that is enabling them to grow and provide a variety of ministries to meet needs within…

Read More
Leadership Lessons from the Life of Moses

“We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.” —Bishop Ken Untener Strengthening the soul of your leadership is a journey that begins, continues and ends with a tenacious seeking after God in the crucible of ministry. It is an invitation to stay connected with your…

Read More
Leadership Lessons from the Life of Moses

“Calling is a much abused word today. In the church it can be little more than a pious euphemism for doing what we feel like doing. Such abuse is brought to celebration in the secular culture, when doing what we feel like doing, attained by any way we feel like doing it, seems often to…

Read More
Leadership Lessons from the Life of Moses

“Spiritual leadership springs forth in grace from our very desire for God’s presence. This does not take effort or striving.  It takes courage, a kind of showing up, attentiveness.” –Gerald May Moses remained in a solitary, non-public existence for a long time. It was as if—in some deep and fundamental way—he just let go. He…

Read More
strengthening the soul of your leadership artwork

“For what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Matthew 16:26 (NLT) I want to talk to you about the soul—your soul, my soul, and the soul of our leadership. When I refer to the soul, I am not talking about…

Read More

Lectionary readings and guidance on using the lectionary Good Friday: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42 “Stay together, friends, don’t scatter and sleep. Our friendship is made of being awake.” Rumi In her book Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris comments that in a monastery, Holy Week is “a total surrender to worship.” This surrender allows for a greater…

Read More

For many years we have hosted a Stations of the Cross prayer service on Good Friday as a way of joining Jesus on his journey to the cross. Sadly, the beautiful chapel we have used is no longer in existence so this year we are inviting you to join us virtually. When we have invited people…

Read More

Lectionary readings and guidance on using the lectionary “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can…

Read More