tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-349797312024-03-12T18:42:07.408-07:00peaceable kin-domfinding delight * seeking justice * valuing mercy * extending invitation * making peace * upsetting applecarts * building community * tending creation * digging deeper * contemplating the divineRev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.comBlogger355125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-44088731484725875602017-03-09T09:00:00.000-08:002017-03-09T09:00:03.375-08:00A Prayer for John 3:1-17In the darkness, we stumble toward you, O God, not knowing where we go or who, in you, we really will find. You meet us here. You reach into the sorrows and questions that compel us to seek you in the dark, and you offer us new life. This new life comes from struggle, as does all life. It springs from mystery, as only life in you can. Love is the source of this life. And that love is you. For Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-8032784558531415502017-03-08T08:53:00.000-08:002017-03-08T23:52:33.078-08:002017 @The Well
Public Engagements for The Well 2017
This year's theme is Repairing the Breach. In addition to our Kids and Race workshops, which are constantly being scheduled, We have the following public engagements already lined up:
March 17 - Cornel West Workshop: Love as Prophetic Witness; Lecture: Art as Resistance. Co-sponsored with and hosted by The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-38099470149944548222017-03-07T20:29:00.002-08:002017-03-07T20:29:19.013-08:00Lent Confessions
This image from http://likesuccess.com/img58059
This Lent I'm going to get real about some of my darker traits. I am going to look at them and consider them in private. And, from time to time, I'm going to share some of them here. Consider this a kind of community confessional. So, here's confession #1.
Why I think I could kill some people: I typically hold a fairly pacifist stance - Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-81096293640311418992016-08-24T09:04:00.001-07:002016-08-24T09:04:33.748-07:00Not in My Name: No to the Dakota Access PipelineI love my home, my country, and my culture dearly. I can love them and still see and name when ugliness and injustice mar them. We founded the US on two particularly unconscionable acts - slavery and the genocide/dispossession of Native Americans. The ongoing and persistent attempts to access or intrude upon remain Native lands for the transport of petroleum products or the excavation of land forRev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-58435851936436424552016-07-08T07:00:00.001-07:002016-07-08T07:32:51.494-07:00Racism and White Supremacy are KillersTwo more Black men shot by police. Eleven police and 2 civilians ambushed in Dallas, 4 police and 1 transit officer dead. One shooter killed by police after failed negotiations. He was killed by a remotely triggered "bomb" on a robot. He maintained that he had placed IEDs that will eventually be found. The killings of all of these people are tragic. The situation facing the Dallas Police chief isRev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-27169694478443416482015-09-25T09:30:00.000-07:002015-10-02T09:34:16.446-07:00
from the New York Times
I write for "Real Spirituality for Real Life," which is the new name for "Process and Faith," a website grounded in process theology.
My latest submission explores the power of looking and seeing the world and its woundedness.
There is something deeply powerful about the act of bearing witness, something we often discount, especially those of us Americans who value Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-91765706405672817522015-05-08T18:43:00.003-07:002015-05-08T20:13:44.395-07:00Using Words to Discuss How Words Fail and the Importance of Narrative
Interfaith Partners for Peace
I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Israel and Palestine. Not only did I take a walk through the past, as so many pilgrims do, but my journey was also rooted in the here and now, and it was focused upon the future. This trip, put together by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs' newly sponsored organization Interfaith Partners for Peace, brought together 28 Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-57524667620246185782014-12-14T18:55:00.001-08:002014-12-14T18:56:54.347-08:00Gaudete Sunday, Contemplative Life, and an Unjust World
This past Lent, The Well, a new ministry in Seattle gathered together a small group of people to begin the experiment of writing, embracing, and living a rule of life. One of the components of our life is a weekly "check-in" (or accountability) email that includes questions that get at "How is it with your soul" as well as a reminder about our shared values and practices, and an offering of an Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-66763208828495239852014-06-10T20:57:00.001-07:002014-06-10T21:58:16.753-07:00Words, Violence, and SocietyOn Thursday, a shooter open fired at Seattle Pacific University, a Free Methodist university just down the hill from the church where I serve. There are students and faculty who have ties to my congregation, and there are members of my congregation who have long and deep connections with the school. I have been deeply impressed by the responses of students and the institution as a whole to this Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-78313578084483701712013-12-24T20:11:00.000-08:002013-12-24T22:00:16.749-08:00"Earthrise/Christrise" a Christmas Eve Sermon"
"Earthrise" Seattle Times
Forty-five years ago today, astronaut William Anders took the first color photograph of earth from space. It changed everything; 1968 was a year known by violence and war and assassinations, by change and chaos and the loss of trust in institutions, and this one photo gave a new, larger vision of what it means to be - to exist at all. Now known as "Earthrise," Anders'Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-55314383734890248452013-11-21T18:05:00.001-08:002013-11-21T18:56:39.740-08:00A plea to liberal Christians: Utilize better biblical exegesis. Stop decrying "Pharisees"Oh, friends. I really don't want to write this post. It is difficult to challenge those with whom one mostly agrees, but I've come to a point at which silence has become untenable.
"Liberal Christians" (whatever that means), in your attempts to "correct" the theology of those you deem "conservative," please use better biblical exegesis. Have a better historical understanding of the scriptures Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-51720291724117260642013-11-21T00:37:00.001-08:002013-11-21T00:37:00.629-08:00God's Holy Creation: a Sermon on Isaiah 65:17-25 (Nov. 17, 2013)Recently, there has been an increased presence of homeless people coming to the church seeking shelter, warmth, access to electricity and other things we take for granted, and the basic necessities of food and water. While Wall Street has rebounded since the economic downturn, many people are feeling the effects of the sequestration that has left vulnerable women and children with less money for Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-12864556802828591932013-11-21T00:10:00.001-08:002013-11-21T00:10:58.951-08:00Peace: Back to our rootsAs many within the United Methodist Church sort through reactions and responses to the recent trial, conviction, and punishment of the Rev. Frank Schaefer, I return to a prayer from our Anglican Methodist roots. The second Collect in the Morning Prayer is the collect for peace, which reads:"O GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-75973304161527902182013-11-18T01:01:00.004-08:002013-11-20T23:39:10.616-08:00Oh, the gay thing once again. Here I go...
As The United Methodist Church continues to struggle with divisions within our connection that strain the fabric of our covenant, once again I feel the need to speak up and out.
This blog post will not cover the "rights" and "wrongs" of biblical exegesis relative to sexual orientation. I have already expressed my feelings of futility for that approach. Rather, this is to serve as a public Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-13942551532976674782013-06-16T21:27:00.003-07:002013-06-16T21:46:40.217-07:00(Don't Just) Do the Right Thing - A Sermon on Forgiveness Luke 7:36-8:3Every week when we gather in worship, we pray "forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Depending
upon what Christian tradition you grew up in, if you did grow up in a
church, you may have also prayed "forgive us our sins" or "forgive us our
debts." All three - trespasses, sins, and debts - reveal the depth of the
power of this prayer. Trespasses - the way we trod Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-50566028968644907112013-06-09T11:51:00.000-07:002013-06-09T15:59:39.141-07:00My God Is...(Another list)I am currently taking a week off from work, which means a week not leading worship. Instead of going to morning worship today, I will be in worship this evening, either for evensong or compline. I am taking some time this morning to say a few things about what it means for me to be Christian.
Via Negativa - what God is not.
1. God does not "live" in the sky. Well, God does not "live" in that Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-76147210531280831762013-04-24T19:44:00.001-07:002013-04-24T21:20:59.963-07:00I finally have a pope.
This image appeared in The Mirror.
I finally have a pope. What a weird thing to say. I'm a Methodist, after all. I don't believe in a priesthood. I don't think that the papacy is theologically or ecclesiologically sound. When I look at the ministry of Jesus, I think that he would be appalled at the many trappings of pomp and circumstance, dogma, doctrine, tradition, and liturgy that all of us Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-13820730114508068082013-04-17T18:43:00.002-07:002013-04-17T18:44:24.178-07:00Prayer of the Day for Good Shepherd SundayGod of peace, as your raised Jesus from the dead, so too you raised your
daughter Tabitha. Again and again, you reach into the dead places of our
lives and tease out new life. You meet us in the scary and violent places of
this world and offer tastes of your heavenly banquet. And when we lose hope and
stray, you send your messengers to remind us of your love and to lead us home. Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-26738401527189060972013-04-03T19:20:00.001-07:002013-04-03T21:00:20.242-07:00A Christmas Sermon (for Easter), Easter C
Tears. A name. A garden. These are three of the most important images in our gospel reading. Together they reveal the transformative power of love to overcome the powers of this world, including the power of death, and in these images we see how God brings new life and redemption for all creation. All three of these - tears, a name, and a garden - link Mary with Jesus. When John awakens us Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-63943085665500414532013-03-19T15:55:00.000-07:002013-03-19T16:19:57.297-07:00Rape is Violence, Not SexOh, ignorance. It seems to be everywhere. As the two young teenage men accused and convicted of raping a girl during a drunken underage party in Steubenville, Ohio received their sentencing, the news media bemoaned and mourned the sadness of the moment...for the rapists. Unlike many media failures, this one crossed the network/cable line as well as the liberal/conservative line. The following Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-16888470905575116302013-02-07T22:55:00.000-08:002013-02-08T09:13:34.334-08:00Confessions from a Talkative Introvert - Complex SpiritualitySo, people like to think the world is divided between introverts who like alone time and extroverts who like social time, but reality is much more complicated. Isn't it always the case?
I recently returned from an annual clergywomen's retreat. Every year in February, United Methodist clergywomen gather together for two days of...nothing. It's absolutely wonderful. We worship...very informally soRev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-77272749525648624452013-01-13T20:06:00.001-08:002013-01-15T21:55:46.483-08:00Gun Control, Rallies, and MeToday in Seattle a rally/march was held in support of new gun laws, i.e. changing restrictions on magazine capacity, closing gun show loop holes, stopping the sale of certain kinds of guns, and buying back guns already in the public. Civic and religious leaders joined with Washington Ceasefire and a concerned public to decry violence in our schools, our public spaces, and in our homes.
I am Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-23935959659051687322012-12-23T08:43:00.001-08:002012-12-23T08:43:48.759-08:00Enter the Song: The Magnificat(This is last year's sermon for Advent 4B).
When I was a little girl, one of the things that I loved about visiting my grandparents during the holidays is that I had a special job. My cousin and I, the two youngest kids, were tasked with ringing an old flecked green bell to call people to dinner. There were always gobs of people. We had to walk all through the house, out to the porch where Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-51311565013795175342012-12-14T14:26:00.000-08:002012-12-26T23:12:45.961-08:00Into Deeper Darkness: Shooting in NewtownI just wrote this on our church's facebook page: "Just a few hours after we posted a joyful message that 35 of our kids will be singing in worship on Sunday, the nation mourns, once again, over the senseless and brutal deaths of children, this time in Conn. QAUMC mourns with deep sorrow over the deaths of the 20 children in Newtown. We pray for the children who escaped death but not a lifelong Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34979731.post-79508118090827723412012-12-11T14:13:00.003-08:002012-12-11T23:34:36.673-08:00Marriage Equality Finally a Reality in Washington StateThroughout the campaign to pass marriage equality in Washington state, many religious voices were raised in opposition. Both the National Organization for Marriage the the LDS pumped in millions of dollars for its defeat. Their efforts proved ineffective, however, and marriage equality finally became reality. This past week, couples lined up to receive their marriage licenses. Choral groups Rev Katie M Laddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202878992241658856noreply@blogger.com1