A DIFFERENT KIND OF FAST

The forty days of Lent are a sacred journey through the wilderness right in our midst and our invitation to practice life-nourishing acts here and now. The practice of fasting is about making more space within us to encounter our deepest, most radiant selves - it is all about growing in relationship to the sacred presence. 


During Lent, we will journey through different aspects of our lives we can let go of so that we make space for something new to enter. We fast from things like: multitasking and inattention, scarcity anxiety, speed and rushing, holding it all together, planning and deadlines, and certainty. 


We will use Christine Valters Paintner's book, "A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent" as a gentle guidebook to help us in this season.


WEDNESDAY DINNER & CONVERSATIONS

On Wednesdays during Lent, starting February 21, we will have opportunities to engage in conversation, spiritual companioning, board games, activities to let your inner creativity shine - and of course, a meal at the table with others. 


Wednesday Dinner & Conversations will be in-person only.


Think of Wednesdays during Lent as a "pick your own adventure" day. One week, you might want to engage in spiritual companioning with Tamarah Lee. Another week, you may want to plop down for a game of Catan. And the next, Psalms & Coloring with Pastor Yvonne. 


ALL ARE WELCOME - from 0 years old to however old you are! 

There are plenty of activities for all ages and gather for dinner at Open Kitchen at 6pm.


The constant thread throughout Wednesdays from 4-8pm during Lent is that you will find

community at Redmond UMC. 

pick your own lent adventure

Click the + to learn more

  • Spiritual direction is an old name for a wonderful concept. To me it resonates as "spiritual companioning," where someone is willing to be a part of the spiritual journey I'm on that day. As I've sat with my own "spiritual director," I've felt like my soul was "listened into existence." 


    Spiritual Direction is an hour, once a month, with another person who will listen to you and with you, to help you see where God is already working in your life (not where you are failing). It's not counseling, it's not therapy. For me, it is time set assign to make space to speak frustrations, ponder spiritual wonderings, and talk about discoveries. For centuries it has been an opportunity to find out more about who you are, how you are created in the Image of God, and just "be" for a while. 


    If any of those ideas seem worth exploring, feel free to ask questions or sign up for a session and see if it is a spiritual practice that speaks to your heart. 


    If you'd feel better in a group rather than one on one, gather a couple of friends, and meet twice a month around the scripture of the week with a guided Lectio Divina, and a safe place to ask questions about stories, concepts and old tapes about the Bible. 


    I'll be available Wednesdays from 4-8pm, on Zoom, or at the church. Grad dinner at Open Kitchen, play some games, and sign up for a spiritual direction slot and see what unfolds. 


    I have been in spiritual direction for five years and practicing as a director for three years. I am certified as a Spiritual Director through Christian Direction and Formation Ministries. I have my Master's in Education from the University of Washington, Bothell, have been teaching in the church since I was 14 years old, and love the journey of discovering an ever-expansive God. 

  • We will have the following board games available. And feel free to bring your own! 

    • Settlers of Catan
    • Wingspan
    • Monopoly
    • Cascadia
    • Azul
    • Scythe
    • Scrabble
    • Pandemic
    • Mr. X
    • Splendor
    • Carcassonne
    • Ticket to Ride
    • 7 Wonders
    • Dixit
    • Codenames
    • Sushi Go

  • The Psalms are a great source of theological creativity, depth, and wonder. Join Pastor Yvonne as we go focus on a Psalm each week in Lent, and while we color, discuss reflection questions for all ages. Pastor Yvonne will guide you through some familiar and some less familiar Psalms and I hope that while our hands are busy, our minds can settle to wonder, explore, and embrace each psalm. 


    The Psalms we will use are: 

    • Psalm 25:1-10
    • Psalm 19
    • Psalm 51:1-12
    • Psalm 116:1-2,12-19
    • Psalm 22:1-22
    • Psalm 118:1-2,14-24

  • For years, Cole Arthur Riley was desperate for a spirituality she could trust. Amid ongoing national racial violence, the isolation of the pandemic, and a surge of anti-Black rhetoric in many Christian spaces, she began dreaming of a more human, more liberating expression of faith. She went on to create Black Liturgies, a digital project that connects spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black memory, and the Black body. 


    In this book, she brings together hundreds of new prayers, along with letters, poems, meditation questions, breath practices, scriptures, and the writings of Black literary ancestors to offer forty-tree liturgies. Inviting readers to reflect on their shared experiences of wonder, rest, rage, and repair - we gather as a community to be in that space with her. 


    You do not need to purchase the book and there will be no reading assignments prior to class.