For whoever finds me finds life

and obtains favor from the Lord.

- Proverbs 8:35

Lectio Divina is a spiritual practice that invites us to slow down, breathe, and spend a few quiet moments with God. Together, we’ll listen to scripture, reflect, and pray. You don’t need any prior experience or expertise; just a willingness to pause and listen for God’s love within and around you.

Connect with us:

Connect with us:

Website: dancingpastor.org
Subscribe to our weekly devotional: Embody Faith
Instagram: @pastorkelseyb
Support our ministry: dancingpastor.org/give

Women play an integral part in history, including in biblical history. In many contexts, they are seen as mere side characters, and often aren’t even recognized with a name. However, we know that women are not just sidebars: they are main characters. They love, they birth, they lead, they prophesy, they teach, they heal, they wage war, and they testify.

Author and Episcopal priest Rev. Alice Connor is here to share some of these women’s stories with us today. She recently wrote the book, Fierce: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and Salvation, which is a follow up to her book Brave: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Grief, Mercy, Folly, Joy, Sex, and Redemption. Alice talks about how the Bible is R-rated because it is real, and our real lives (not the ones we post on social media for all to see) are definitely R-rated. When we read these women’s stories within the Bible for what they truly are: raw, honest, full-bodied, and whole-hearted, we not only see them for who they are, but we see ourselves as well.

About Alice:

Rev. Alice Connor is an Episcopal priest and a chaplain on a college campus. She wrote Fierce: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and Salvation, How to Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World, and Brave: Women of the Bible and their Stories of Grief, Mercy, Folly, Joy, Sex, and Redemption.

She co-wrote an article for the Journal for the Study of the New Testament called “Mantic Mary? The Virgin Mother as Prophet in Luke 1:26-56 and the Early Church.” That’s academic-speak for “Hey, maybe Mary the mother of Jesus was more than a mom and actually had a word of challenge to speak to us? Just sayin’.”

Alice is also a certified enneagram teacher and a stellar pie-maker. She lives for challenging conversations and has a high tolerance for awkwardness. She lives in Cincinnati with her husband, two kids, a dog, and no cats.

Connect with us:

Website: moveyourfaith.org
Subscribe to our weekly devotional: Embody Faith
Instagram: @pastorkelseyb

It’s okay to be inconsistent in our faith practices. God doesn’t expect perfection.

In this episode, Pastor Kelsey reminds us that it’s okay to be human.

The reason so many new year resolutions fail is because we expect perfection from ourselves. We get off course or miss a few days, and we throw it all away. The same can be true with our faith and prayer practices. We might set an intention at the beginning of Lent to journal every day or read the Bible every morning, and that is a beautiful thing to try! But remember - you are human. Kids get sick, work projects take up space, there’s a leak somewhere, your hormones are out of whack or mercury is in retrograde. Whatever it is, remember that life happens and it’s okay to acknowledge that sometimes our good intentions can be set aside for a few days. It doesn’t mean you have failed: it means you are human.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Blyth Barnow’s Instagram post @femminary: “Lent is not a diet plan”

Connect with us:

Website: dancingpastor.org
Subscribe to our weekly devotional: Embody Faith
Instagram: @pastorkelseyb
Support our ministry: dancingpastor.org/give

I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother. - Psalm 131

Lectio Divina is a spiritual practice that invites us to slow down, breathe, and spend a few quiet moments with God. Together, we’ll listen to scripture, reflect, and pray. You don’t need any prior experience or expertise; just a willingness to pause and listen for God’s love within and around you.

Connect with us:

Connect with us:

Website: dancingpastor.org
Subscribe to our weekly devotional: Embody Faith
Instagram: @pastorkelseyb
Support our ministry: dancingpastor.org/give

An invitation to breathe, ground, and begin again - together.

After a season away, we’re beginning gently, by tending to our bodies and souls. We’re all carrying a lot of stress, grief, and overwhelm right now. Our nervous systems, collectively, are a bit fried. In this episode, we explore what it means to seek an abundant life in the midst of a hurting world, and how prayerful, embodied practices can help us find healing and calm, without ignoring reality.

Pastor Kelsey helps us explore how stress and trauma live in our bodies, and then guides us through simple, prayerful, embodied practices that can help regulate our nervous systems. Those practices include breath prayer, grounding, shaking, cold water, community, and song.

If you are feeling exhausted, on edge, or simply longing for a softness in your body and spirit, this episode is for you.

Links we mention:

Listen to Minister Blyth Barnow's episode on Holy Harm Reduction and the impact of community with addiction.

Connect with us:

Website: dancingpastor.org
Subscribe to our weekly devotional: Embody Faith
Instagram: @pastorkelseyb
Support our ministry: dancingpastor.org/give

Come experience God’s love, go embody God’s grace.

In this short intro episode, Pastor Kelsey shares the heart of Faith in Motion as a place to explore what it means to have an embodied faith - a faith that comes alive in how we live, move, and love. In this space, you are invited to experience God’s love within and around you, and gently called forward to embody that grace in the world.

Connect with us:

Website: dancingpastor.org
Subscribe to our weekly devotional: Embody Faith
Instagram: @pastorkelseyb
Support our ministry: dancingpastor.org/give