Our final Rhythms of Grace retreat begins tomorrow, October 14, at 11:30 am (Eastern) and we still have room for you!
Don’t worry. You’re not late. All you need to do is register for the retreat here. You’ll receive a confirmation with a pdf guidebook to download and the Zoom link.
After that, all you need to do is show up tomorrow!
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Our third and final Rhythms of Grace retreat happens October 14, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm (Eastern). Join me for two hours of guided prayer, silence, and reflection on how we can live in Jesus’ unforced rhythms of grace for fruitful work and refreshing rest.
We’ll meet 40 minutes for guided prayer, silence, and scripture reading, 40 minutes for individual reflection (offline) with the help of simple prompts included in the downloadable retreat guide, and 40 minutes for group spiritual direction with space for guided response and Q & A.
Register for the Enjoy Work & Rest retreat
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What I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty - all arranged in lists of threes.
Hi, I’m Tamara Murphy and this is my newsletter. It’s completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my work, please consider a paid subscription: $5/month for weekly devotional posts throughout the year or $3/month for personal storytelling posts 1-2 times a month.You can also go way above and beyond by becoming A Sacramental Life Community member at $17/month. Thank you! Seriously, thank you. Support from readers helps me offer spiritual, relational, and creative direction to beyond the scope of this website.
xoxo, Tamara
The latest installment in my series using the Mad Farmer’s words to inspire my own storytelling. I write in hope that something I share will encourage you to think differently about your own life and to respond to that new way of thinking with joy and courage and new ways of becoming more like Jesus and more like the self God’s always imagined for you.
I’m grateful to my mom, Nancy G. Hill, for writing today’s post. This is re-printed from a beautiful project she’s working on with Storyworth. (I’ll share more details at the end of today’s story.) If you’ve been following along in this series of Resurrection stories, you’ll notice my grandmother Geraldine and her mother Calla Mae. Consider today’s story a prequel to this one.
In case you’ve lost track, here’s a description of my current Stories series.
Today’s excerpt from "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" by Wendell Berry:
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Welcome to autumn! I share a list of things I learned once a quarter. As we welcome fall I’m also reflecting on what I learned this summer.
If you're new to me or my public blog space, welcome!
I’m joining Emily Freeman, a writer and podcaster I admire, in her invitation to reflect on the past quarter with a What We Learned reflection. As Emily says, I’m sharing “in-process considerations, not necessarily fully worked out narratives.”
Here are 14 things I’m learning in varying degrees of gravitas and in no particular order.
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Lovers of Gospel Conversations
A Review of
Tongue-Tied: Learning the Lost Art of Talking about Faith
Sara Wenger Shenk
Paperback: Herald Press, 2021
Bookshop | Amazon | Hearts & Minds Booksellers
Reviewed by Tamara Hill Murphy for Englewood Review of Books, September 2021: https://englewoodreview.org/sara-wenger-shenk-tongue-tied-learning-the-lost-art-of-talking-about-faith-review/
Read More![August 3 for 3 [2021]: Good things coming true edition](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5700118059827e84008212d2/1630771763019-Y8QWDZVGPKHP35515Z7X/August.Mom%27s+retirement2.JPG)
What I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty - all arranged in lists of threes.
Hi, I’m Tamara Murphy and this is my newsletter. It’s completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my work, please consider a paid subscription: $5/month for weekly devotional posts throughout the year or $3/month for personal storytelling posts 1-2 times a month.You can also go way above and beyond by becoming A Sacramental Life Community member at $17/month. Thank you! Seriously, thank you. Support from readers helps me offer spiritual, relational, and creative direction to beyond the scope of this website.
xoxo, Tamara
The latest installment in my series using the Mad Farmer’s words to inspire my own storytelling. I write in hope that something I share will encourage you to think differently about your own life and to respond to that new way of thinking with joy and courage and new ways of becoming more like Jesus and more like the self God’s always imagined for you.
In case you’ve lost track, here’s a description of my current Stories series.
Today’s excerpt from "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" by Wendell Berry:
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
Our retreat series for Ordinary Time gathers for retreat #2 next week, August 26, friends. Love My Neighbor & Myself has a few open spots left. Want to join us?
We’ll meet 40 minutes for guided prayer, silence, and scripture reading, 40 minutes for individual reflection (offline) with the help of simple prompts included in the downloadable retreat guide, and 40 minutes for group spiritual direction with space for guided response and Q & A.
AUGUST 26: Love My Neighbor & Myself
11:30 am - 1:30 pm (Eastern)
Caring for self and neighbor: Hospitality, generosity, justice, and forgiveness.
To keep it simple, I’ll email you the day before the retreat with the Zoom link and retreat guide pdf. That's it. You just show up!
Read More![7 Literary Books Our Church Read Together for 2019 - 2020 [Apostles Reads]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5700118059827e84008212d2/1625404662827-ZOEQDFV85CZEY9VUPJDF/Screen+Shot+2021-07-04+at+9.05.24+AM.png)
As I look back on the year, the themes of exile and home, journey and escape, peace breaking and peacemaking provided a literary counterpoint to the pendulum we found ourselves swinging between turbulence and exhausted apathy. Perhaps this is the greatest gift the liturgical calendar gives us - a steady rhythm of fasting and feasting, celebration and penitence, lament and resurrection year in and year out. All of this works together to keep us company while we put one foot in front of the other toward our forever home.
After you read through the list of titles our church read together last year, I’d love to hear from you!
Any suggestions?
Also, if you could invite your church to join you in reading one book for this year (with the above criteria), what would YOU choose?
Read More![July 3 for 3 [2021]: Stalking beauty edition](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5700118059827e84008212d2/1628264991320-4SUM5PK5PNBX69BOQXSM/July.HFV8.jpg)
What I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty - all arranged in lists of threes.
Hi, I’m Tamara Murphy and this is my newsletter. It’s completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my work, please consider a paid subscription: $5/month for weekly devotional posts throughout the year or $3/month for personal storytelling posts 1-2 times a month.You can also go way above and beyond by becoming A Sacramental Life Community member at $17/month. Thank you! Seriously, thank you. Support from readers keeps this blog ad and sponsor-free and helps me offer spiritual, relational, and creative direction to beyond the scope of this website.
xoxo, Tamara
![What I Read January - June [From the Book Pile 2021]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5700118059827e84008212d2/1627940057786-J1RO417CGHZ8MHO7N2CH/July.Ithaca1.jpeg)
You can see all my reading lists since 2006 here.
Spring 2021: my local library re-opened for (masked) browsing and book hold pick ups! This is right up there with the best things that happened to me last year. For reasons I haven’t totally figured out yet, the books I’m reading in the beginning of this year feel like one great pick after another. I’m excited to hear what titles catch your attention
Three questions as you browse this post:
Which titles grab your attention?
What've YOU been reading lately?
Any suggestions you want to send my way?
Drop me a comment and let me know!
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The latest installment in my series using the Mad Farmer’s words to inspire my own storytelling. I write in hope that something I share will encourage you to think differently about your own life and to respond to that new way of thinking with joy and courage and new ways of living. As a reminder, here’s a description of my current Stories series.
Today’s excerpt from "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" by Wendell Berry:
Read More“Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion — put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.”
![June 3 for 3 [2021]: Getting back out there!](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5700118059827e84008212d2/1625221457515-8SL8LE9FQUS5CHL53BDQ/June.+Brian%27s+birthday+trip1.jpeg)
Hello! You’re getting this newsletter for free, and I’m so grateful for your companionship here. If you’d like to get periodic stories from me, weekly devotional guides, 2x/month Zoom conversations, occasional online retreats, & more, become a member in one of my 3 member areas for only a few dollars per month. xoxo, Tamara
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Our first online retreat for Ordinary Time happens this Thursday, July 1 and I'd love for you to join us!
The cost is only $25. Tell your friends!
We’ll meet 40 minutes for guided prayer, silence, and scripture reading, 40 minutes for individual reflection (offline) with the help of simple prompts included in the downloadable retreat guide, and 40 minutes for group spiritual direction with space for guided response and Q & A.
Let’s take Jesus up on his invitation to watch, and walk, and work with him in unforced rhythms of grace.
WHAT: Worship in the World & Church online retreat
WHO: Anyone who is weary or overburdened and wanting to listen for the fresh invitations of Jesus to watch, and walk, and work with him in unforced rhythms of grace
WHEN: Thursday, July 1, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm (Eastern)
WHERE: Online via Zoom and recorded if you need to watch at a different time from the live stream
For more information and to register, please check out this page:
https://www.tamarahillmurphy.com/shop/worship-in-the-world-church-retreat-
We about six spots left and would love to fill them. Invite your friends to join us too! Make the invitation even sweeter by purchasing a gift certificate (starting at $25 value) in my new shop.
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The latest installment in my series using the Mad Farmer’s words to inspire my own storytelling. I write in hope that something I share will encourage you to think differently about your own life and to respond to that new way of thinking with joy and courage and new ways of living. As a reminder: here’s a description of my current Stories series.
Today’s excerpt from "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" by Wendell Berry:
“Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.”
I’m joining Emily Freeman, a writer and podcaster I admire, in her invitation to reflect on the past quarter with a What We Learned reflection. As Emily says, I’m sharing “in-process considerations, not necessarily fully worked out narratives.” Here are 11 things I’m learning in varying degrees of gravitas and in no particular order.
Read More
A Sacramental Life Retreats: discerning Jesus’ unforced rhythms of grace for our everyday, ordinary lives
The purpose of A Sacramental Life retreat is to set apart time and space to keep company with each other and Jesus by listening to the Spirit, scripture, and our own lives. Contemplative Bible reading, listening prayer, and personal reflection are central features of each of these facilitated experiences.
My hope is for each participant to grow in their capacity to pay attention, become curious, and move toward the ongoing invitations of God.
When you register for the retreat series, you’ll receive access to all three virtual retreats, a guidebook to download right away with additional pages added throughout Ordinary Time as well as a bunch of other helpful resources.
EARLY-BIRD SALE PRICE UNTIL JUNE 24!
Read More![May 3 for 3 [2021]: Exhaling and Giving Thanks](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5700118059827e84008212d2/1622550430857-E6F9DPQOHAO6BV7HNMP9/May.Apostles%2BMother%2527s%2BDay8.jpg)
What I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty - all arranged in lists of threes.
Tamara’s Note
Happy June, everyone! May has been a bad month for our family the past couple of years. I noticed a couple weeks ago I was holding my breath emotionally - just trying to get through the month without feeling too much anxiety or anything else. When I get in this place I also notice a resistance to beauty. Beauty invites equal parts longing and contentment. Neither of those pair well with trying to press the emotional pause button. Some days this month I’ve been fully aware all of these dynamics and couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Other days, like some I’m sharing here, I’ve been able to just receive the day, walk in it and through it exactly as it presented itself to me. I’m not sure how I’ll respond to tomorrow but I know that in some merciful mystery, Christ is not only present now with me but also ahead of me and behind me.
Now it’s June and I’m exhaling gratitude.
p.s., Here are a few of the moments I received with gratitude this month.
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