Love
Seeing Through the Filter
Mar. 13, 2026 10:27 Filed in: Commentaries
Beloved in Christ,One delusion of modern life is the assumption that it is possible to see the world objectively, and without bias. Our brains take in about eleven million bits of information per second, and our conscious minds can only process about fifty bits. That’s an enormous gap, and our minds close that gap by using unconscious filters to select what to see and predict what is likely to happen. Those filters are made of what we believe or value most. So, it turns out, it’s not so much that seeing is believing, but rather we have to believe in order to see.
Following Jesus is about learning to see through the filter of God’s sacrificial, neighborly love. In this Sunday’s dense and complex gospel reading, Jesus is helping us to understand that true, healing vision is only found when we let go of faith in ourselves, and practice clinging entirely to God’s power.
Learning to see through the eyes of Jesus will give us a bias for love. It will develop a filter for generosity in a world of rancor and scorn, shine a warm and healing light on the poor and those pushed aside in a world where might makes right. Our spiritual work in every moment is to ask Jesus to touch the scales of hard-hearted selfishness, bitterness, and fear that ever blind us, and put on the lens of love, and the filter of justice. Through daily prayer, sharing life with each other, drinking deeply from the scriptures, and encountering Jesus in sacrament, God’s vision for a world healed by love comes into sharper focus, and we are set free to extend that healing in every moment of our living, in a world imprisoned by its destructive blindness.
Grace and Peace,
The Right Reverend Craig Loya
Bishop X
Episcopal Church in Minnesota
[ photo credit ]
The Hot, Parched Wilderness
Mar. 11, 2026 15:27 Filed in: Commentaries
From Bishop Loya
Beloved in Christ,
Last summer, a bike trip with my daughter through Iowa coincided with a brutal heat wave. At one point, we found ourselves in the middle of a long stretch between towns, running low on water. There was only one way for us to get out of the heat and find water, to keep going. We eventually reached our destination, exhausted, hot, and full of complaint. Then, we found an ice cream place, ordered water and the largest root beer floats they could make, and consumed them greedily in the glorious air conditioning. It was spiritually transcendent, and made the hot trip back much, much easier.
In the Old Testament reading for this Sunday, God’s people are also in the middle of a long and hot journey in the desert wilderness. There is no water, they cry out in complaint to Moses, who turns around and cries out in complaint to God. God directs him to strike a rock with his staff, and water inconceivably comes running out, no doubt as sweet as our root beer floats in Iowa.
The world feels every bit a hot and parched wilderness right now. The most powerful in our nation and the world are recklessly enforcing a narrow vision at home, and now in the already embattled Middle East, as bombs wreak death and destruction through the region with little sense of how or when it will all end, and the potential for widening violence alarmingly high.
In such a moment, we are called to stand in the long biblical tradition of lament, and cry out to God for justice, for peace, and for healing. The only way we can get out of the heat and find water is to keep going, seeking with our whole being the living water that God alone can offer. And then, fortified by that water, we are to pedal through the world with the same elated energy as my daughter and I did on our root beer fueled return trip through Iowa’s scorching cornfields. We are to pedal calling on our elected leaders to end the state sanctioned campaigns of violence, around the world, and in our own streets. We are to pedal in calling for accountability for those who recklessly disregard the basic constitutional rule of law. We are to pedal by doing every small thing we can do in front of us with the greatest imaginable love.
Make no mistake, beloved, the God we meet around the altar each and every week can provide the sweetest water out of the hardest surfaces, and the most impossible circumstances. May our life together always be about joining God in striking every hard, calcified, and brittle barrier, until the healing medicine of love flows unstoppably over the whole parched and painful creation.
Grace and Peace,
The Right Reverend Craig Loya
Bishop X
Episcopal Church in Minnesota
[ photo credit ]
What Will Recovery Look Like?
Feb. 25, 2026 08:47 Filed in: Commentaries
Friends, Yesterday, Dave Larson preached a powerful sermon that wrestled with his 'childhood preachers' and their focus on sin. Unpacking the Genesis story of temptation and the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, Dave shared that "this isn't a story about sin. It's a story about love." Listen here.
That love is real good news - not just for our relationship with God but for our relationship with our neighbors. So many of us have been praying, demonstrating, feeding and protecting our neighbors, and joining in other forms of political action in response to Operation Metro Surge. That operation, which purports to be over, has definitely not actually ended: ICE, CBP, and other federal organizations have moved operations into the suburbs, changed tactics, and gone underground compared to a few weeks ago. The news media may have moved on, but our neighbors and friends who felt targeted before would be right to wonder if they are yet safe to go to work, to the grocery store, to doctor's appointments. Volunteers are wondering when and how to taper off.
As much as we'd like the situation to be definitively over, there is going to be a 'long tail' of residual effects, compounded by the lost trust in official communications.
As those impacts linger, what will it look like for our city and our state to 'recover?' All of us will be asking this question in the coming days.
I'd love to hear from you on this question: What does healing (or even just getting back to normal) look like when the harm might be continuing in a new form? As individuals, as a congregation, as a wider civic community? What resources do we need to tap into to practice the way of Jesus in this season?
If you have thoughts to share, hit 'reply' and let me know. If you give me permission to share your words, I'll include in next week's email.
With love,
Susan+
[ photo credit ]
Lent 2026 at Grace: The Welcoming Prayer
The Welcoming Prayer is an embodied, contemplative practice that helps us enter the present moment, in the presence of God.
Here's what it boils down to:
I let go of my desire
for security, affection, and control,
and I embrace this moment just as it is.
As we navigate the extraordinary challenges of these days in Minnesota and across the country, the Welcoming Prayer can be a powerful tool to help us ground ourselves in God’s loving embrace so that we can respond, rather than react, to the instability and uncertainty around us.
Once you’ve learned the practice, it can be a tool to connect with your body, your soul, and your faith anywhere you go, in any moment, no matter what you’re feeling. Find out more.
From Curse to Blessing: A Guided Lenten Practice
Mar. 19, 2025 11:22 Filed in: Spiritual Practice | Audio
Week of Lent III, March 23: From Curse to Blessing
Luke 13:1-9 “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all others?” In this passage, Jesus wrestles with a belief common in his time, and in ours – the notion that God causes bad things to happen to people as revenge for their sins. Using an image of garden fertilizer, Jesus calls us back to the story of the first garden: he invites his listeners to put their energy toward bearing fruit.
Where has an image of a punishing God taken root in your life? How might you ask God to heal that image? In a violent and unpredictable world, how might we put our energy into God’s original blessing, God’s dream of shalom for the earth and all its creatures?
[ Audio version ]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Now, into this soft, supported space, consider the notion of God as ultimate judge and punisher. Is this image of a vengeful God familiar to you? Notice any stories or history that come to mind as you examine this notion.
How do you relate to this notion of an exacting God – one that doles out retribution for our sins? What happens in your body when you bring this fearsome image of God to your awareness? Does your belly tighten? Your heart race? Your face flush?
Spend a moment feeling into the conditioned response to a retributive God.
Keep breathing.
Choose one place in your body that can feel the impact of the version of God that is punishing. Gently place a loving hand there – belly, heart, forehead, feet. Breathe into your own gentle touch and invite that place to start to relax and soften. Stay with this sensation and breathe into it – returning if your mind wanders.
As your body starts to relax and release this fear into your breath and gentle touch – intentionally choose to shift your attention to Jesus’ invitation to set down the debate about sin and punishment and instead turn towards bearing the fruit of God’s love. Feel into this shift with your senses – look towards the bearing of fruit, feel the turn away from vengefulness and towards love.
Really orient your awareness to this – the fruit to be borne by your human gifts.
What shifts for you as you change your awareness and intention in this way? How can you notice, in real time, that you have oriented to being a bearer of fruit in this world instead of an exacter of judgment?
Consider your week ahead – as you scan the days and hours, let opportunities for bearing loving fruit present themselves – what chances do you have to choose this way of being? What is one concrete offering you have for the world this week in the spirit of fruitful love?
As you move through this week – commit to noticing when you’re in the energy of judgement, punishment, and fear. When you find yourself there, practice gently turning energetically and heartfully towards the bearing of God’s fruit – over and over again. Without perfection but with steadfastness of purpose.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Luke 13:1-9 “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all others?” In this passage, Jesus wrestles with a belief common in his time, and in ours – the notion that God causes bad things to happen to people as revenge for their sins. Using an image of garden fertilizer, Jesus calls us back to the story of the first garden: he invites his listeners to put their energy toward bearing fruit.
Where has an image of a punishing God taken root in your life? How might you ask God to heal that image? In a violent and unpredictable world, how might we put our energy into God’s original blessing, God’s dream of shalom for the earth and all its creatures?
[ Audio version ]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Now, into this soft, supported space, consider the notion of God as ultimate judge and punisher. Is this image of a vengeful God familiar to you? Notice any stories or history that come to mind as you examine this notion.
How do you relate to this notion of an exacting God – one that doles out retribution for our sins? What happens in your body when you bring this fearsome image of God to your awareness? Does your belly tighten? Your heart race? Your face flush?
Spend a moment feeling into the conditioned response to a retributive God.
Keep breathing.
Choose one place in your body that can feel the impact of the version of God that is punishing. Gently place a loving hand there – belly, heart, forehead, feet. Breathe into your own gentle touch and invite that place to start to relax and soften. Stay with this sensation and breathe into it – returning if your mind wanders.
As your body starts to relax and release this fear into your breath and gentle touch – intentionally choose to shift your attention to Jesus’ invitation to set down the debate about sin and punishment and instead turn towards bearing the fruit of God’s love. Feel into this shift with your senses – look towards the bearing of fruit, feel the turn away from vengefulness and towards love.
Really orient your awareness to this – the fruit to be borne by your human gifts.
What shifts for you as you change your awareness and intention in this way? How can you notice, in real time, that you have oriented to being a bearer of fruit in this world instead of an exacter of judgment?
Consider your week ahead – as you scan the days and hours, let opportunities for bearing loving fruit present themselves – what chances do you have to choose this way of being? What is one concrete offering you have for the world this week in the spirit of fruitful love?
As you move through this week – commit to noticing when you’re in the energy of judgement, punishment, and fear. When you find yourself there, practice gently turning energetically and heartfully towards the bearing of God’s fruit – over and over again. Without perfection but with steadfastness of purpose.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Just Dance
Feb. 12, 2025 12:20 Filed in: Commentaries
Friends,
Yesterday, some of the youngest members of Grace Episcopal Church preached the Gospel for us. You can watch the video here. I'm grateful for the leadership of our young people who offered their voices and interpretations and movement to preach the Good News today, and to the adults who supported them in the process!
In the midst of the onslaught of executive orders, in the midst of Project 2025 playing out before our eyes, in the midst of climate catastrophe and all our civic and personal fears and disasters, we got to see yesterday morning a small group of faithful people interpret the Gospel and invite us into the dance. We talk here often about resilient, defiant, embodied, joyful love. Dance is just about as perfect a practice of that kind of love as we could come up with: Showing up in our bodies, with defiant joy, resiliently committing to trust in God and to share love despite the fear and despair that we might feel. Keep on dancing with the Holy Spirit these days, friends.
Peace, Susan+
By yourself you’re unprotected.
With a friend you can face the worst.
Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
Yesterday, some of the youngest members of Grace Episcopal Church preached the Gospel for us. You can watch the video here. I'm grateful for the leadership of our young people who offered their voices and interpretations and movement to preach the Good News today, and to the adults who supported them in the process!
In the midst of the onslaught of executive orders, in the midst of Project 2025 playing out before our eyes, in the midst of climate catastrophe and all our civic and personal fears and disasters, we got to see yesterday morning a small group of faithful people interpret the Gospel and invite us into the dance. We talk here often about resilient, defiant, embodied, joyful love. Dance is just about as perfect a practice of that kind of love as we could come up with: Showing up in our bodies, with defiant joy, resiliently committing to trust in God and to share love despite the fear and despair that we might feel. Keep on dancing with the Holy Spirit these days, friends.
Peace, Susan+
By yourself you’re unprotected.
With a friend you can face the worst.
Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.
Ecclesiastes 4:12