A Mid-Lenten Check-in (is that a thing?)
Coming at you from somewhere between Nashville and Austin
I’ve been on a road trip with my family to Birmingham and Nashville this Spring Break. It’s been delightful to see glimpses of spring’s arrival — blooms on trees, and leaves turning green — but it’s a little tough to be away knowing that in Austin, bluebonnets are out in full force on the interstate and in my neighbors front yard.
Over the past four weeks, we’ve had the pleasure of reading Baptismal Stories1 from four different guest writers. We still have two more stories to go (including my own), but I wanted to send a few links and updates since I haven’t been in this space much in the last month.
If you haven’t had a chance to read these stories, I recommend following the links in the footnotes! Catherine2 reflected, “Yes, we come from from soil, we come from mother earth, we come from dust. And baptism reminds us: not dust only, also water.” Jenny3 reminded us that the waters are not stagnant but invited us to ask: “Where might these waters carry me?” With Jamie,4 we imagined ourselves “wrapped against [Jesus’] chest…like a mother with a Moby-wrap,” and Iesha5 reminded us of the yes and of baptism, that “[t]he sacred mystery of coming to the waters is the invitation to be submerged and the willingness to do it.”
Below you’ll find some links of what I’ve been reading, thinking about, listening to, and even what I’m filling Easter baskets with.
A Few Links
If you’re filling an Easter basket, here are a few spring/Easter picture books that we’ve loved over the years: Bunny’s First Spring, Sparrow’s Prayer and This is the Mystery of Easter.
These bookmarks for drying flowers look great for baskets too!
We usually order caterpillars and watch them change into butterflies this time of year, as a reminder that new life is all over the place. Or as Martin Luther wrote Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.
A few books I’ve enjoyed lately: Grieving Room: Making Space for All the Hard Things after Death and Loss by Leanne Friesen , Our Unforming: De-Westernizing Spiritual Formation By Cindy S. Lee, and a couple of Louise Penny mysteries: The Beautiful Mystery and How the Light Gets In.
I’ve been thinking about Rilke’s invitation to “Live the Questions Now” after Drew Jackson reminded me of the quote on this new podcast from Aaron Niequist.
Spiritual Direction News
I currently have space available for new directees. If spiritual direction is something that you or someone you know might be interested in, please reach out — I can be contacted at hollyporterphillips@gmail.com. I’ve written here a little about what spiritual direction is to me, if you’d like to know more!
Many of you are new to my Substack, welcome! Here are a few posts that might help you get to know me:
A Season of Renewal - here is the explanation of how I came to the idea to invite guest writers to tell their stories of baptism and transformation.