Author Archives: Valerie Reinke

By Deborah Milton The Blessing. Painting by Deborah Milton. [Editor’s note: Now that Lent is over and Easter Day has been celebrated (Hallelujah!), we are just about ready to let Lenten Muse go dormant. However, here’s one last sweet post … Continue reading →

By Robin Livingston Cherry trees come into fabulous display. The blossom “hallelujahs” at their peak are brief and drop away… to make room for an as-yet-hidden new kind of life. “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of … Continue reading →

Photograph by Jim Beug; Poem by Ted Loder Gentle me, Holy One, into an unclenched moment, a deep breath, a letting go of heavy expectancies, of shriveling anxieties, of dead certainties, that, softened by the silence, surrounded by the light, … Continue reading →

By Liz Powell 1 Hands cupped like a beggar to receive The Bread. The first time I asked to receive I was an adult. Asking, begging, reaching my arms past my personal bubble Making myself vulnerable. 2 I was asked … Continue reading →

Photograph by Anonymous, Bainbridge Island 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was… 37 A … Continue reading →

Photo shared by Susan Stevens with an excerpt from a poem by Anis Mojgani come closer. come into this. come closer. you are quite the beauty. if no one has ever told you that before know that right now. you … Continue reading →

By Nancy Peregrine What I remember first is the rough coolness as I reached down through the wet leaves for a sure handhold.  My right hand it was, grasping around a branch that just fit my four year old size.  … Continue reading →

By Michele Bombardier If God were to spread out her skirt and tuck me under like a wing maybe I could alight maybe I could branch, bloom, then fly my petal self face-down onto the ground, the wind a call … Continue reading →

By Katie Kent [It’s now been a year since Grace member Micki Babcock’s grandson, 18-year-old Simon Kent, was rushed to the hospital with a rare autoimmune disease, just as her daughter, Katie Kent, was returning from a conference. Today, the very … Continue reading →

By Diane McGrew Belonging has always been important to me.  I believe the best way of belonging to a community is to contribute.  So when my wife and I moved back to North Kitsap, and to Grace Church, two years … Continue reading →