priest, speaker, author
Anna's mostly monthly recommendations of picture books exploring Christian sacred stories, faith and God at home. Picture books are accessible, inspire imagination, powerful and often already a part of family life.
“The Light of the World: The Life of Jesus for Children” by Katherine Paterson and Francois Roca invites the reader (and listener) into Jesus’ sacred story in a way that encourages wonder. As Easter Sunday approaches and we celebrate all of Jesus’ story, I encourage you to share this story with the young ones in your life in your own words and, if you’d like, the words of others.
Read MoreJesus often spoke in parables, simple stories with a hint of strangeness intended to point to God’s nature and God’s kingdom. Often on first reading (or second or third), parables frustrate me. Why can’t Jesus be more to the point? However, when I imagine Jesus listing a bunch of rules, I imagine myself looking for loopholes and ways to bend what doesn’t feel comfortable. Jesus chose to tell parables, sacred stories with many right interpretations. Stories to be thrown alongside our life and wondered about. Sacred stories to return to over and over again.
Read MoreThe Beatitudes bring up more questions than answers for me and I wish I could sit down with Jesus and ask him to say more. I am therefore grateful for people, art, and messages that enter into the Beatitudes with Holy imagination and make them come alive within our world. "The Beatitudes: From Slavery to Civil Rights" by Carole Boston Weatherford and Tim Ladwig does this beautifully.
Read MoreJanuary 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany and the end of the Christmas season. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that this is the day the magi arrived in Bethlehem, directed by angels and guided by a star, bringing gifts to Jesus. The magi go home by another road. Little else is known about them, although a robust tradition has grown around them over time, including their number (three) and their names (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar).
Read MoreThe Night of His Birth by Katherine Paterson and Lisa Aisato imagines what Mary is feeling, thinking, and experiencing before and after Jesus' birth, including her impressions of her loved ones' reactions to her pregnancy. Beginning "Sing out, my soul, the wonder..." the words and images are both earthy and ethereal, inviting wonder beyond what is in the pages of our Bible.
Read MoreOne of my favorite youth retreat exercises is to wonder what the Lord's Prayer means in our everyday life. The results are always inspiring. Some groups translate it into their own language, others illustrate the prayer, and a few put it to song. Revisiting these words that we know so well and read today/this Sunday, July 28, can enliven our faith. In this month's book, "The Lord's Prayer," illustrator Tim Ladwig does just that.
Read MoreOne of the ways our faith shapes our life is by shaping our Holy imagination, an imagination that helps us wonder about and see God at work in the world and our lives. At times this task can feel daunting or too abstract to teach our children. And in some ways, children embrace Holy imagination better than adults and our job is to encourage what they already notice. "Maybe God Is Like That Too," by Jennifer Grant and Benjamin Schipper, explores children's Holy imagination.
Read MoreI am a priest, an author, a wife, a daughter, and an expectant adoptive mother. Welcome to my website.
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