Liz Cooledge Jenkins

Tag: community

  • Epiphany prayer

    I wrote a prayer based on what I’ve heard six different elders share at church these last couple Sundays. Thought I’d share it here too. The prompt was something like this: What epiphany have you had recently (that is, what do you feel like God has revealed to you), and what are you doing with…

  • Magi, Wisdom, People Younger Than Me

    Note: This week and next week I have the privilege of sharing some scripture and life reflections with my church community via our weekly newsletter. I’ve been asked to reflect on the theme of epiphany – what do I feel like God is revealing to me, and what do I do with that? I wanted…

  • Advent prayer: Soul

    An Advent poem/prayer on the theme of “soul.” Soul God, I want to live and move out of the depths of my soul. I want to see soul in everyone I meet. I want to be connected with my soul. So many forces have tried to break this connection. Sometimes it feels like they have…

  • Advent prayer: Release

    A poem/prayer, reflecting on the theme “release.” I’ve been reading an indigenous memoir called The Woman Who Watches Over the World, by Linda Hogan. One of the things Hogan says happened when she was in the hospital recovering from a traumatic brain injury was that she asked all the questions that had gone unasked and…

  • Advent prayer: Open

    Last Advent season, in 2021, I wrote a bunch of poem/prayers, responding to different daily one-word prompts offered by my church. This Advent season felt like a good time to revisit these prayers and share some of the ones that still resonate. This one is on theme: open. Open God, I want to be open…

  • Reflections on 20 years of friendship

    A close friend from high school passed away unexpectedly in an accident the Sunday before last, and I’ve been thinking about them a lot. I sat down a few days ago and wrote what turned out to be over 5000 words of memories and reflections on their life and our friendship.  I’ll spare you the…

  • Super chill book review part 1: The Will to Change (bell hooks)

    I started reflecting on bell hooks’ The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (Washington Square Press, 2004), and it got kind of long. So, here’s part 1!  In all the “super chill book reviews” I’ve done so far (and I believe I’ve done twenty now in total—check ‘em out here if you like), I…

  • Super chill book review: Atlas of the Heart (Brene Brown)

    Given how long it took to get a copy—that is, one of 114 copies—of Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart (Random House 2021) from the local library system, I’m going to venture a guess that rather a lot of people are reading it or have read it recently.  (Also, it’s a TV series? I haven’t…

  • On wealth, poverty, and caring without being overwhelmed (reflections on Luke 16:19-31)

    16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 16:20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 16:21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and…

  • Gutsy faithfulness in a world where money fails (reflections on Luke 16:1-13)

    I’ve got another church eblast reflection for you all – unabridged (read: slightly longer) version!  This one’s on Luke 16:1-13: 16:1 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 16:2 So he summoned him and…