Friday, January 14, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond Sana’i was born in Ghazna—a city southwest of what is today Kabul, Afghanistan. He came of age in the early twelfth century, long after the rise of Islam, and was a poet first, and [...]
Thursday, January 13, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond Daoism (sometimes written as Taoism) began in the sixth century BCE. While it may have originally been more of a philosophy or way of life, after millennia of practice and deep influence across what [...]
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond Many religious traditions use prayer beads. In Hinduism, most prayer beads come in strings—called mala—0f 108 beads, with a 109th bead called the “Krishna bead,” placed strategically to guide you from beginning to end [...]
Tuesday, January 11, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond A friend of mine was far from home. He grew up in the Gambia and was visiting my parent’s house in suburban Indiana. He asked which direction was east and while everyone else was [...]
Monday, January 10, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond Long before South Sudan became a country, the Nuer people prayed these words, “Our Father, it is Thy universe, it is Thy will, let us be at peace, let the souls of Thy people [...]
Friday, January 7, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond In his book No Mud, No Lotus, Thich Nhat Hanh says, “in each of our Plum Village practice centers around the world, we have a lotus pond. Everyone knows we need to have mud [...]
Thursday, January 6, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond I have long loved Abraham Joshua Heschel. I read his book about the sabbath in college and was deeply moved by his articulation of rest as a theological imperative, akin to justice. Heschel was [...]
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan started in 1987. As the brand expanded, it took its shoes and its catchphrase around the globe to emphasize its worldwide reach. In 1989, they featured the Samburu tribe [...]
Tuesday, January 4, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond I know just enough about Islam to know I know very little about Islam, but you won’t be surprised to find I’m drawn to the Muslim mystics. Today’s prayer comes from Sufi mystic Bistami [...]
Monday, January 3, 2022 The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster My Neighbor’s Prayer: The Vocabulary of Blessing as Common Bond I wasn’t sure where to start. My neighbors’ prayers proliferate. I went to Evanston’s finest theological library (at Garrett Evangelical Seminary) and there are multiple sections of the library with multiple shelves filled with [...]