Twenty years ago, a mentor saw me starting to burn out. He encouraged me to take a personal retreat. This was both renewal and challenge – could I let myself BE for just a couple of days? A part of the plan was to go to Olympic National Park, just to walk in the meadows. With no hat, no food, no extra water, and Birkenstocks on my feet, I headed into the mountains.

For the Rev. Dr. Sharad Creasman, hope shows up every day at Brevard College, often in the smallest, most human moments. “I am inspired by students’ giggles, laughter, smiles, vocational interests, questions about life, and everything in between, and their dreams about their futures."

This Lenten season, I invite us to loosen our grip on the need to capture, control, or fully comprehend the Divine. What if the most profound truth is that the Sacred is beyond our ability to fully name and too infinite to capture in syllables and words?

For the Rev. Dr. Sharad Creasman, hope shows up every day at Brevard College, often in the smallest, most human moments. “I am inspired by students’ giggles, laughter, smiles, vocational interests, questions about life, and everything in between, and their dreams about their futures."

Now, in a new office and new setting, that Scott Erickson print hangs proudly. You’ll see it just over my shoulder on Zoom calls, reminding me that What I love is God and God’s people coming together, wherever and however we may do so.

As college chaplain of Emory & Henry University, Sharon Wiley Wright views her work with students as both a calling and a privilege. A 1994 alumna, Wright has spent the past 11 years shaping the spiritual life of the campus through mentorship, teaching, and pastoral care.

Now, in a new office and new setting, that Scott Erickson print hangs proudly. You’ll see it just over my shoulder on Zoom calls, reminding me that What I love is God and God’s people coming together, wherever and however we may do so.

As the chaplain and director of the Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University in Washinton, D.C., the Rev. Eric Doolittle approaches campus ministry with the same spirit that Lent invites: a season of looking again, slowing down, and seeing the world anew.

What begins on Ash Wednesday culminates with Good Friday. This period is meant to be a time of self-reflection, repentance, and sacrifice. The purpose of Lent is to help us think deeply about our lives. How is our soul? How is our heart? How are we moving closer to our ideal self? Is our love growing? Are we holding grudges? Are we ready to forgive?

Rumi was a Muslim mystic who lived in Turkey in the 13th century. His poems are about the primacy of love. ... This poem is an invitation to help lift one another, because as we do so, we are also lifting the world. This poem has been translated by Farideh Azodi Davidson.