mmmalick

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Marriage is a Cross-Cultural Experience

Marriage is a Cross-Cultural Experience

In the fall of 2007, I prepared for my first trip to India as part of my seminary studies. Part of the preparation entailed a class to study about Indian culture, customs, faith traditions, etc…Although our professor attempted to help us dig deeper in our preparation, often our conversation veered in the direction of what would our housing arrangements be like and what would happen if we fell…

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All Couples Give Birth at the Wedding

All Couples Give Birth at the Wedding

“You’re about to have your first baby!” This is one of the little sayings I sometimes suggest to couples in the homily at their wedding. Sure, the sentence gets everyone to perk up a little bit. Sure, it can make for a little surprise. It both builds suspense and takes the edge of anxiety.  Beyond those reasons, I say this because I want to help all of us recognize that what’s about to happen is…

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For These Things I Give Thanks

For These Things I Give Thanks

God only knows I haven’t been the easiest person to be around of late. The to do list is long. The lament list is lengthy. The fire in my belly doesn’t want to be tamed. I’m told that fire can either destroy or cleanse. I’m praying for the later. And then in a most unexpected turn of events I arrive home from a church meeting. Soul weary I enter our sleeping home… I’m too late to even say good…

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From Resolutions to Rituals

From Resolutions to Rituals

It’s that time of year.  The time when we get busy writing our list of resolutions and checking it twice.   If you are at all interested in personal growth or self-help, you can find books, journals, and art projects to inspire you to live your best year yet.  In recent years there has been an emphasis on letting go of the list of to do’s and instead pick an image or a word for the year.  These…

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Running on Empty

Can I just say this little light is not what you want to see go on when you’re stuck on the highway. Sitting on the highway in bumper to bumper traffic, while facing the quickly setting sun, the E-light illumined my drive.  How could I be running on empty?  When I left, I had plenty of gas to get home.  Nearly 2/3’s a tank.  That’s more than enough.  After I stopped bargaining, I quickly shifted…

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Holy One, I have fallen on my knees before you head bent… the very breath knocked out of me. I’m again that little girl whose sweaty palms slipped from the handle bars. I crashed on the hard playground floor. I tried to speak– no sound escaped. It was a fall and a crash not some gentle glide on Your wings not a cushioned landing on Your downy feathers. No. It was a crash. A whoosh. A loss of…

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Practicing Barefoot

This is almost too hard to put into words. Too hard to capture . This sense that the space between therapist and client is holy ground. I forever feel as though I should be sitting barefoot. There is no more sacred space than when someone trusts you enough to unpack the contents of her soul.

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The Wisdom of Water

The Wisdom of Water

I’ve been wading For what seems like years– Standing in the breaking waves Waiting Always waiting For just the right moment To dive Head under the cresting wave. Instead I shimmy Forward Back Forward Back The ebb and flow of the tide Pulling and pushing.   In the waiting I almost missed it That moment where the rising sun Shines through the curl of the wave. The light beckons me To submit to the…

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Thank You Note to Fear

Thank You Note to Fear

I’ve spent years.  I mean years.  And hundreds of dollars…yes I mean hundred of dollars…trying to kick fear out of the backseat of my car.  I’ve breathed deep.  I’ve counted to ten.  I’ve patiently waited.  I’ve stuffed the car so full of items, activities, and commitments.  Despite these and many more efforts, fear always seems to be along for the drive.  In case it might be a little too long of…

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Grief: The Wedding Crasher

Grief: The Wedding Crasher

Grief appears the day of the wedding, but usually she’s dressed to the nines and sipping cocktails. If you’re not careful, you won’t catch her. It’s not that she’s a wallflower. You can catch her in the reflection of the tears She rubs elbows with the parents’ of the couple And dances across the ballroom. If you listen carefully, you can hear her deep sighs. She sighs for the years gone by to…

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Marriage On the Margins

Marriage On the Margins

In mainline protestant white liberal churchy world there’s a lot of talk about ministry on the margins.  Mostly this means ministry with people living in the margins of our society. Think refugees, LGBT folks, people of color.  These are very real and necessary conversations.  For people of faith in the United Church of Christ–the denomination that proclaims extravagant welcome and…

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Say No to Yoga Shaming

Say No to Yoga Shaming

  A couple of months ago, I discovered kundalini yoga.  Rather than focusing on strength of flexibility, this yoga focuses on breath and being.  Or as yogajournal.com describes Kundalini Yoga incorporates movement, dynamic breathing techniques, meditation, and the chanting of mantras… The goal is to build physical vitality and increase consciousness. There’s something about this integration of…

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Too Busy for Poetry

Too Busy for Poetry

In another round of graduate education I found myself too busy for poetry. Too much to do. Too many important tomes to read concepts to master skills to acquire thoughts to think ways of being to analyze. Oh the list is long– The reading pile a mountain with each text more serious and important than the last. So easily the black and white binary of academics seduce me into the old ways of right…

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Not Ready for the Resurrection

Not Ready for the Resurrection

I wonder if she felt this way– not ready for the resurrection. So much tumult in such a short time. So much pain so little space to process.   I wonder if she felt this way– not ready for the resurrection. So easy to sing Sometimes people leave you Halfway through the wood… But no one is alone Believe me Easy words to sing until you are left halfway through the wood. And there she was halfway…

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Just Any Other Wednesday

Just Any Other Wednesday

What you must think of us, Holy One. Here it is our Holy Week– the week we vow to re-member: our own culpability our own tendency toward shame and blame our own denial this week of all weeks we open ourselves to repentence we invite you in to help us find the courage and wisdom to break the pattern To prepare our hearts and minds for redemption.   And yet–here we are. Using terror for political…

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I Pray for Abortion to End, Too

I Pray for Abortion to End, Too

On my way to church yesterday, I drove passed a group of protestors. The majority of the signs implored, “Pray to end abortion.” One lone sign declared, “Save Planned Parenthood.” All it took was the juxtaposition of those messages, and the tumult I’d felt for two weeks ceased. To me these messages are not dichotomies or polarities.  Certainly, this issue is bigger, deeper, and more complex than…

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Roses

I want to like them. These roses. The sixty plus elegant bushes that we adopted when we moved into this home. But I don’t. Try as I might I can’t find the passion for carefully cultivating their soil or delicately pruning their branches. I confess to cheering as mid-summer beetles have made more than one bush their home. I long for a yard full of color– a little bit wild and unkempt. Try though I…