Phillip Humphrey- Spiritual Director

05/03/2025

I really appreciated this short sermon from Nadia Bolz-Weber. Here are some of my favorite quotes but I recommend reading the whole thing.

"Scripture isn’t a reference manual or a faith dictionary. It’s more like a painting—the blank spaces of which are waiting for us to step inside with our own stories, questions and imaginations."

"I do not need a religious reference manual, I need the living word of God.
I need a story that is bigger than my pain but does not ignore my pain. I need a story that is bigger than the crushing values of late stage capitalism and is at the same time a critique of those values.
I need a story that is bigger than what I can see, bigger that what I fear, bigger than what the Internet and the algorithms are trying to convince me of every day of my life."

a short sermon on Thomas

11/30/2022

First Sunday of Advent: Prayer of Petition and Intercession

Just and merciful Judge of peoples and of hearts,
you tell us to beat our swords into plowshares,
and our spears in pruning hooks,
and promise that nation
shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.

Yet we still hear of wars and rumors of wars,
of oppression and slavery and random killing,
of rage and hatred and every kind of evil.

And so we cry out, O God, and ask,
When will it end? When will your reign of peace begin?

Hear the cries of your people, O God,
as we pray for justice,
as we pray for healing,
as we pray for peace,
in words that are spoken aloud
and those held in the silence of our hearts.

From Calling on God by Peter Bankson and Deborah Sokolove

11/29/2022

First Sunday of Advent: Prayer of Thanksgiving and Praise

Just and merciful Creator of life and love,
every moment is a gift from you,
a glimpse of the peace and plenty for all
that you promised our ancestors in faith.

We give thanks for sunlight so bright that it hurts our eyes,
and for long, dark nights filled with sparkling stars.

We give you thanks for quick emails and long conversations,
for festive meals and quick snacks on the run,
for memories of years gone by
and hopes for new tomorrows,
for the comforts of home and the challenges of travel,
for nightly rest and days filled with work and play.

We give thanks , most of all,
for your promise that the day is coming
when every person and nation will walk in your holy light,
and your great love will rule every heart.

And for what else shall we give thanks for this day?

From Calling on God by Peter Bankson and Deborah Sokolove

11/28/2022

First Sunday of Advent: Opening Prayer

Just and merciful Light of the world,
you call us to be your people,
to come into your holy presence
that we may learn your ways
and walk in the paths of peace.

You show us your goodness in every sunrise,
opening our eyes to a world washed clean,
inviting us to delight in fat sparrows feasting on suet,
and to laugh at black squirrels racing up tree trunks
and dogs leaping through drifts of brown, fallen leaves.

As we yearn for days of your promised coming,
hold us in the warm embrace of your holy Body,
and teach us how to live not only for our own pleasure,
but for the healing of the world. Amen.

From Calling on God by Peter Bankson and Deborah Sokolove

10/10/2022

05/30/2022

A Prayer for Memorial Day by Nadia Bolz-weber.

...and the long, tangled cost of war

05/27/2022

I highly recommend this podcast from The Prophetic Imagination Station. The interview with Danielle Shroyer (author of Original Blessing) is an enriching conversation about who we are as humans. As I listened. I was reminded by how much I was shaped by shame based theology from many different aspects of Christian culture. If you also experienced this type of Christian culture, this podcast would be a great place to start in learning ways to replace the harmful theology.

Krispin & DL talk about Blindside and the “gospel” based on having dirty, rotten hearts. Krispin interviews Danielle Shroyer.

04/20/2022

I recently started reading Raging with Compassion by John Swinton. At the very beginning of the book, Swinton writes this quote. Swinton continues on by envisioning a way of engaging evil and suffering that does not attempt to explain it but invites us to find ways in which evil and suffering can be resisted and transformed. What might our lives look like if we learned to live faithfully with unanswered questions and were a part of communities that resisted and transformed evil and suffering through practices like lament and forgiveness?