With unseasonable thunderstorms rumbling in the distance, today I’m unpacking a cherished nativity set, including a beloved but battered shepherd with a reattached head. As Christmas comes around each year, I arrange the figures so that each can “see” the baby Jesus in the center. Today I’m also preparing for an infant baptism. On SundayContinue reading “Ministering to Weary Souls”
Author Archives: Rev. Dr. Markene
Lord, Make Us New
In an unfortunate run-in with heavy construction equipment, a 100-year-old post oak on Abbey property sustained significant damage (pictured). Post oaks, along with blackjack oaks, cedar elms and pines, populate the Abbey property and much of this area—the Cross Timbers ecoregion running from southeastern Kansas through Oklahoma to central Texas. Despite its severe injury, thatContinue reading “Lord, Make Us New”
Safe Space
As one of our supportive friends, I hope to see you at our 4th Anniversary worship celebration on Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 10:00 am at Trinity Lakeside Abbey. We have much to celebrate. After a year of prayer and discernment, we began in uncertain times—the first global pandemic in a century. And frankly,Continue reading “Safe Space”
Safe, Known and Touched
Recently I met two lifelong friends for our annual breakfast. As always, we picked up where we left off, each of us sharing the long version of how it is with our soul. We have journeyed through many seasons together, from hopes to heartaches, high points to hard times. We treasure our enduring friendship. InContinue reading “Safe, Known and Touched”
The Slow and Sometimes Hidden Work of God
Merry Christmas! As St. Athanasius once wrote, “The Word of the Father, so great and so high… has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of the Father, for the salvation of man.” Praise God for his loving goodness! Praise God that our Savior is born! AsContinue reading “The Slow and Sometimes Hidden Work of God”
Together on the Journey: Road to Emmaus, Texas Style
“I sketched this out on your front porch at the last retreat,” she said casually. The artwork above (to which she later added color) is entitled, Road to Emmaus, Texas Style. It embodies what we pray will happen when you visit Trinity Lakeside Abbey. Whether joining us for contemplative worship, guided day retreat or IgnatianContinue reading “Together on the Journey: Road to Emmaus, Texas Style”
Keeping It Real this Advent
I just finished Tish Warren’s little jewel, Advent: The Season of Hope. With chapter themes like yearning, longing, crying out and stirring, she brings the season into sharper focus. Warren holds before us the invitation of Advent, observing, “Christmas with its compulsory jollification and insistence on being the ‘hap-hap-happiest season of all’ devolves into saccharineContinue reading “Keeping It Real this Advent”
The Healing Rhythms of Creation-Keeping
Last year when I was receiving weekly chemotherapy treatments, I was always drawn to the chairs by the windows. These floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked a garden full of native plants and a green belt of trees that runs along White Rock Creek. It was good for my soul to look out at that garden while IContinue reading “The Healing Rhythms of Creation-Keeping”
Beautiful Sameness
There’s a place in the Colorado Rockies at an elevation of about 11,000 feet that’s a kind of touchstone for our family. It’s a high ridge on the West Spanish Peak overlooking a broad, verdant valley. Over the years we’ve fondly referred to this overlook as the Sound of Music spot. Most years we makeContinue reading “Beautiful Sameness”
A Sanctuary of Rest for the Weary
In conversations about the spiritual life I often hear people speak of deep weariness, weariness at a soul level. But I also hear a common struggle with making time for much-needed rest. Frequently I find myself “giving permission” to the weary to care for their own soul—to get away to a quiet place with Jesus,Continue reading “A Sanctuary of Rest for the Weary”