tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70184886223001615112011-08-09T07:02:47.186-07:00Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-9172403985190610522011-02-19T14:18:00.001-07:002011-02-23T20:49:55.176-07:00

Articles, blog posts and Facebook status updates offering encouraging accolades, respectful commentary and constructive criticism regarding Big Tent Christianity in Phoenix are beginning to surface and much less hastily than I would have predicted! I really wanted to weigh in on the commentary while the energy was still palpable...before the 'camp-high' wore off...Although the 'tent' is packed up

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-24237658974562729372010-10-27T08:56:00.000-07:002010-10-27T11:19:47.565-07:00

H8ers, I just want you to know that I have been going through one of the most difficult seasons of my life in connection with my faith. I am NOT where I used to be but I am NOT without Christ. He promised NEVER to leave me or forsake me. I know you believe the Bible is always clear and literal, this seems so clear...should I take IT literally? I am only starting to catch a faint glimpse of how

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-28637788222532716922010-05-11T21:04:00.000-07:002010-05-14T10:48:42.134-07:00

A few weeks ago...I was enticed to attend the TransFORM east coast conference...a gathering for the missional/incarnational minded. Everything about this conference excited me, starting with the cost...which was FREE, thanks to Wesley Theological Seminary! I'm not gonna lie...a free missional conference with a lot of other possible freebie options (plane ticket, transportation from Dulles to

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-11346154520990722592010-04-19T23:33:00.000-07:002010-04-22T14:22:47.094-07:00

This post was initially intended for submission May 19th as part of a synchro-blog organized by Julie Clawson. a early morning visit to the ER prevented me from getting it done...at any rate here it is.I grew up expecting God to do something....to be up to something...especially something “new”.Charismatic Christians in traditions like that of my past are eternally optimistic...instinctively

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-27341683232189551882010-03-10T18:56:00.000-07:002010-03-12T13:44:41.306-07:00

There was a time in my former life, that I anxiously awaited the tour dates of a few ‘brand-name’ annual women’s conference events that made stops in Phoenix, where I live..I attended one or two of these events every single year without exception for probably an entire decade...In those days...descriptive words like ‘Virtue’, ‘Purpose-Driven’, ‘Extravagant’ or ‘Proverbs 31' coupled in some manner

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-31101255796631672302010-02-25T12:24:00.000-07:002010-02-25T12:47:39.559-07:00

There's a subtle yet undeniable force at work in the world, whether one chooses to acknowledge it or not, The 'Law of Cause & Effect' or more simply getting what you give. Some people call it Karma...others call it sowing and reaping or even living by the Golden Rule. It's a universal truism and no one religion or people group has the corner market on it...It's always at work everywhere and it's

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-91999438730857344232010-02-18T09:52:00.000-07:002010-02-18T10:48:40.835-07:00

Last year (2009) I became more aware of and interested in committing myself to the observance of Lent. After a previous Emerging Desert cohort discussion, I became even more compelled to find a place to officially begin the Lenten season. My friend Jamie knew I was interested in exploring the Labyrinth as a symbol of the Lenten journey. So, upon her suggestion, she and I and my pal Frances...

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-6803222393367054932009-12-30T18:24:00.000-07:002009-12-30T23:07:07.914-07:00

*Sigh*I'm starting to feel a little bit like a 'Debbie Downer'...like I should start almost every blog I write with an apology or a warning. I feel like everything I write or want to write is angry, depressing and cynical.hmmmmm.It is what it is I guess.But, I really wanted this post to be different, inspiring and light. I originally began writing a blog piece about Advent around the end of

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-87513150974048390832009-11-24T08:11:00.000-07:002009-11-27T22:59:40.480-07:00

I have so many obvious blessings...it's ridiculous. For starters...I have an amazingly supportive husband, 4 brilliant and stunning daughters, many precious friends, both of my parents and my in-laws are healthy, active and invested in our lives...I have a lovely home, newer cars as well as a little bit of spending money...I truly do not lack one creature comfort. Yet, Rather that catalogue all

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-71963566389111989162009-10-28T21:56:00.000-07:002009-10-28T22:24:52.487-07:00

Initially when I began thinking of my own journey and spiritual practice, it was easy to recall the things I was eager to be leaving behind within the traditional model of 'church'...Things like the routine, the single contributor driven monologue, the 'stained-glass-ceiling, name-brand banner waving, using 85% of the collective tithe to support infrastructure often with shocking exorbitance and

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-71294267468481261772009-09-12T18:15:00.000-07:002009-10-05T23:53:12.702-07:00

praxis is defined as: 1.practice, as distinguished from theory; application or use, as of knowledge or skills. 2.convention, habit, or custom. 3.a set of examples for practice.I’ve been thinking a lot about spiritual practice recently...and more specifically my own spiritual practice as someone who professes to be a follower and disciple of Jesus. Even though I left the institutional church well

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-14087206142464581302009-08-23T22:44:00.000-07:002009-09-02T23:08:38.086-07:00

I am continuing to expand on a few of the 5 spiritual "KEEPERS", or spiritual by-products I inherited from the institutional church of my past. These are specific truths I feel I can claim as having legitimate life giving and eternal value...even now, living as a sort of self-imposed exile on the ‘outside'. Each foundational truth has weathered a rather bitter divorce from my ‘traditional church’

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-20634183384936960152009-08-10T10:51:00.000-07:002009-08-13T11:51:24.755-07:00

This is another spin off blog from an earlier post entitled "Keepers". In that blog piece, I extricated five eternally valuable truths and concepts that the Institutional Church provided and taught me for nearly 4 decades. As I mentioned previously...this was to be an exercise for me in positive thinking and gratitude...maybe that's why it was a challenge right out of the gate? Ha. That said...

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-77605159999791487302009-08-08T12:53:00.000-07:002009-08-08T12:59:30.905-07:00

Its official...I am not warming up to this blog thing as well as I had hoped. I just can't seem to get past the notion that any of my incessant analyzing and deconstructing of my past life in the institutional church really matters much. I have no inspiration to offer or light to shed on the subject...at least...not yet...and I'm not sure what the point is! One minute I am passionately

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-86615721852198526342009-07-14T10:50:00.000-07:002009-07-18T10:30:33.935-07:00

As I was writing my blog of despair (‘STUCK’) from my little pit a few days ago...I began to contemplate what if anything I gained from my life on the "inside" of the institutional church that could be classified as a 'keeper', you know, something of value...? I honestly do not want to remain camped out in bitterness and accusation forever so, I thought it might be valuable to rediscover the

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-66140886023583693362009-07-11T22:02:00.000-07:002009-07-13T14:08:19.750-07:00

It's been one year since I formally left the institutional church. I am really sad and pissed that I am still struggling with what the hell happened and why? I don't understand how 34 years of life on the 'inside' unraveled so damn fast. I want to blame somebody...I wonder if it's my fault?I am pissed that I wasn't smarter. I am sick inside that I was so damn gullible...I saw everything thru

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-30911606108369817762009-07-02T00:54:00.001-07:002009-07-02T00:57:58.352-07:00

A pretty awesome friend of mine, Kathy Escobar, http://kathyescobar.com/ graciously offered me an opportunity a week ago or so...to be a guest contributor for the online community, Communitas Collective, that she regularly writes for..If you know me...you know that while I dream of doing such things I freak the hell out when I am actually given a real live chance to 'write'. See, I have this

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-30220280486871825832009-06-26T12:02:00.000-07:002009-06-26T13:19:08.980-07:00

ExcusesTo be honest, the idea of creating a blog has been a sort of bi-polar experience for me. While I feel almost compelled to write...I am terrified to actually do it. I visit the blogs of others and I feel completely comfortable leaving a post(or 2)...even a post that stirs up a little shit. Yet, I have not been able to take the step and do my own thing. I am a chicken. Maybe you can relate

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018488622300161511.post-1497710513806124022009-06-25T19:42:00.001-07:002009-06-25T19:50:19.629-07:00

I love you mommy. I hope you like your blog. If anything needs fixing, or tweaking, or maybe if you want to try something different, just let me know. :)♥ Hannah

Thorn-67http://www.blogger.com/profile/15795783274864944574noreply@blogger.com1