Church and Main by

Church and Main

Is AI A Tool For Love? with Cathie Caimano

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a month ago · 2 likes · Dennis Sanders

I always love speaking with Dennis, and he asked the most thoughtful questions, based on a blog I wrote about the Pope’s Encyclical on AI.

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Extraordinary Catholics by and

Extraordinary Catholics

Wisdom from a Free Range Priest®!

In this episode, Reverend Trish and Father Jayme speak with Free Range Priest® Father Cathie Caimano. She shares of her vocation and ministry within the Episcopal tradition, changing paradigms in the Church, the “cages” in which many clergy find themselves, and how we might better work “inside, outside and alongside” the institutional Church. Father Cat…

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a month ago · Hon. Rev. Dr. Jayme Mathias and Rev. Trish Sullivan Vanni, PhD

What an extraordinary conversations with two Cage Free Ministers! I was honored to be part of this conversation.

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Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
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’We should do this’

It all started on Substack. interviewed for his podcast. The conversation continued after - we were both invested in the Cage Free way of being in ministry, and we had both been finding our own paths.

But it was hard. And lonely.

Not long after we started having serious conversations about this, we met . Cathie found out she was starting a denomination and thought: ‘I just have to meet this person’.

When we say ‘meet’, we mean we pretty much only know each other through Substack (though Cathie and Sierra have now met in person…).

Which says something about how online relationships can be very real. And something about how we can create real faith community online, as well.

Pretty soon, Substack Seminary was born.

Here’s a little bit about us - the Substack Seminary Founding Partners - and the perspectives we bring on the Future of Church.

Fr. Cathie Caimano

An Episcopal priest for over 25 years, and the Free Range Priest for the last 10. Cathie has served congregations large and small, from NYC to KS, and as an ‘in-house’ consultant to 60 (mostly small) congregations and their clergy.

Cathie is known for Cage Free Ministry, Trexo: a gym for your soul, serving with the small but mighty , and lots of photos of the sunrise.

Key quote:

The future of church is agile, networked, and technology-based, focusing on Christian practice and small worshiping communities.

Loren Richmond, Jr.

Pastor, chaplain, and podcaster writing at the intersection of faith, culture, and church renewal. A lowercase-e evangelical exploring theology, discipleship, and how historic faith speaks today—especially why the church still matters.

He is the author of ‘The Church as Community Hub’, leads The Future Christian podcast and The Church Nerd blog.

Key quote:

When I trust that I’m a part of God’s bigger story, I’m less focused on making my own way and more intent on finding my part and trusting God to show me the path.

Thinking about what God is like, how we can follow Him and how we might understand living in the Kingdom of Heaven. Church planting in the Black Hills of Western South Dakota, with my beautiful family and lovely little congregation.

Sierra is a writer and preacher, she started her own faith community, and her own denomination!

Key quote:

Are we listening for the ways of God? Do we hear the language that He speaks to us? Often we feel like He’s silent, but of course He’s always talking, we’re just no good at hearing.

Substack Seminary is a Newsletter that is part of
a Free Range Priest subscription.

During Quarters, you’ll get blogs thematic blogs:

• Q1: Vision & Systematic Change

• Q2: Structure & Business Model

• Q3: Theology & Community

• Q4: Technology & Collaboration

Paid FRP subscribers join Conversations live on Thursdays at 3:30 Eastern (during Quarters), and get the replay + chat invitation on Mondays.


You don’t have to do this alone. Subscribe to join the ‘home for weirdo pastors’.

At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.

Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
Right now. Today.
Subscribe to re-discover ministry JOY.

Subscribe now

You are not alone.

This is one of the reasons we started Substack Seminary - so those of us doing Cage Free Ministry could feel connected.

hosts our weekly livestream Conversation - Thursdays at 3:30pm Eastern (during Quarters - and sometimes between them!) - with cohosts and an assortment of Substack Seminary Participants (maybe you?).

We follow the themes of the Quarters, and talk about what this means for our own ministries, and the Future of Church.

Here’s some bits of wisdom that have come from the Conversation so far:

Rest, prayer, walks and naps are required!

As ministers, we carry the tradition with us in an embodied way - we have to create space for this to happen.

Emphasizing that people aren’t paying for you time, but for a lifetime of experience, formation, and wisdom.

‘What are the moments in ministry that I really feel like this is working?’
‘When push comes to shove, it’s about what we decide to do right now’

Defining chaplaincy as evangelism in the best sense: reminding people God is with them and they are not alone.

People crave connection with God and community, and they don’t have experience with church.

Valuing ministry as work, setting boundaries around tasks and availability - and how working for free is not helping!

How systems, especially in institutions like churches and hospitals, are built so that success requires constant heroic effort from someone - and how this needs to change!

Leaning into a real rhythm of worship and practice actually changed my life.

Substack Seminary runs in Quarters — four per year (each quarter lasts for an intensive seven weeks), each built around a single theme.

There are about three weeks between each Quarter - you’ll still have access to the community space and there will still be livestreams (sometimes), but everyone gets some breathing room.

During Quarters, we’ll work intensively on our own ministries - and you’ll be invited in to see us do this, and to share what you’re doing - via the chat and the live stream comments.

What we’ve talked about so far - and what we plan to talk about:

January 12 - February 23, 2026

Q1: Unstuck Church

• How institutional patterns and 20th-century assumptions about full-time clergy and programs are crushing both pastors and congregations.

• Reflecting on recognizing where we are replicating old systems in new settings and how telling our stories helps us see where we are still stuck.
  

April 13 - May 25, 2026

Q2: CREATE SUSTAINABILITY - Structure & Business Model

• Exploration of what sustainability really means and what ‘thriving’ looks like spiritually, emotionally, and financially for ministry in the 21st century.

• Good ministry needs the focus and clarity of good business - serving a particular people in a specific way without burning out.
  

Aug 3 - Sept. 14, 2026

Q3: BRING CHURCH TO PEOPLE - Theology & Community

• will be theology and community: how ministry is actually ministry - preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and forming community both online and in person.
  
  We’ll look at it from four areas: Welcome, Belonging, Formation, and Practice.

October 5 - Nov. 16, 2026

Q4: CONNECT IN AGILE NETWORKS - Technology & Collaboration

• We’ll focus on technology and how digital tools are not a separate world from ‘real church’ but one of the main ways relationships and ministry begin and grow now.
  
  

Writing for Substack Seminary

• Writing for Substack Seminary

  Paid subscribers can pitch an article with a Substack Seminary byline: highlighting their ministry, their learnings, or their take on the Future of Church.

• You may also be invited to participate in the live stream Substack Seminary Conversations.

  
  
  This is where collaboration and networking meet development and training.
  
  

What does it mean to be a minister in a church that no longer works like it did in the 1960s (or even the early 2000s)?

We started Substack Seminary because the ministry we’re doing didn’t seem to fit into any model of training and development for ministry.

And because we didn’t see any one else trying to equip today’s ministers for the Future of Church.

So we decided to do it ourselves - and we’d love it if you’d join us.

At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.

Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
Right now. Today.
Subscribe to re-discover ministry JOY.

Subscribe now

You’re doing ministry that doesn’t fit the boxes.

Substack Seminary doesn’t fit them, either!

It’s not a typical Substack, and it’s not a typical Seminary.

Substack Seminary is an online workshop, grouped in Quarters, where we wrestle with how to do and be church in the digital age.


It’s Cage Free Ministry in real-time.

Substack Seminary runs in Quarters — four per year (each quarter lasts for an intensive seven weeks), each built around a single theme.

There are about three weeks between each Quarter - you’ll still have access to the community space and there will still be livestreams (sometimes), but everyone gets some breathing room.

During Quarters, we’ll work intensively on our own ministries - and you’ll be invited in to see us do this, and to share what you’re doing - via the chat and the live stream comments.

Paid FRP subscribers join Conversations live on Thursdays at 3:30 Eastern (during Quarters), and get the replay + chat invitation on Mondays.


You don’t have to do this alone. Subscribe to join the ‘home for weirdo pastors’.

Subscribe now

Each Quarter gets a theme. Each time through we learn more

2026 Quarters

January 12 - February 23, 2026

Q1: GET UNSTUCK - Vision & Systematic Change

The big picture of institutional collapse and the focused picture of where your ministry fits in - and thrives.

Think organizationally.

April 13 - May 25, 2026

Q2: CREATE SUSTAINABILITY - Structure & Business Model

It may be hard to picture your ministry as a business. But using small business practices: What is your ‘why’? How are you bringing transformation? How will this be paid for? - will help you clarify your calling.

Think sustainably.

Aug 3 - Sept. 14, 2026

Q3: BRING CHURCH TO PEOPLE - Theology & Community

How is your work Gospel-centered ministry? What part of Christian tradition are you bringing forward in a new way?

Think theologically.

October 5 - Nov. 16, 2026

Q4: CONNECT IN AGILE NETWORKS - Technology & Collaboration

How do we move beyond denominations and siloed congregations to create flexible partnerships and multi-layered engagement?

Think technologically.

Writing for Substack Seminary

• Writing for Substack Seminary

  Paid subscribers can pitch an article with a Substack Seminary byline: highlighting their ministry, their learnings, or their take on the Future of Church.

• You may also be invited to participate in the live stream Substack Seminary Conversations.

  
  
  This is where collaboration and networking meet development and training.
  
  

Substack Seminary is ‘a home for weirdo pastors’.

We started it because the ministry we’re doing didn’t seem to fit into any model of training and development for ministry.

And because we didn’t see any one else trying to equip today’s ministers for the Future of Church.

So we decided to do it ourselves - and we’d love it if you’d join us.

At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.

Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
Right now. Today.
Subscribe to re-discover ministry JOY.

Subscribe now

You’re looking for what they don’t teach in seminary

Maybe you’re a chaplain. A church consultant. A podcast host. A church planter. Maybe you’re pastoring a traditional congregation and finding ‘Cage Free’ ways to share ministry inside it.

Maybe you’re doing all of this at once.

You see what’s happening to the church, and you’re already responding. That makes you a pioneer, which is a great word for a hard job.

Being early means working without a map. Usually without a net. And it’s lonely. It can be exhausting.

Substack Seminary is where we build the map and the net together.

During Quarters, you’ll get blogs thematic blogs:

• Q1: Vision & Systematic Change

• Q2: Structure & Business Model

• Q3: Theology & Community

• Q4: Technology & Collaboration

Paid FRP subscribers join Conversations live on Thursdays at 3:30 Eastern (during Quarters), and get the replay + chat invitation on Mondays.


You don’t have to do this alone. Subscribe to join the ‘home for weirdo pastors’.

Subscribe now

Substack Seminary might be the place for you if…

• You’re a lay or ordained minister (or thinking about becoming one, or on your way)

• You’re building something outside the institutional box (or inside the institution, trying to build a new ‘box’).

• You’re seeing the changes in the church and responding creatively - or want to!

• You’re ready to describe what you do, who you’re trying to reach, and how it gets financially supported (we talk about money a lot).

• You’re longing for real community, collaboration, people who see the same things you do - and are pioneering how to respond in new ways.

• You really want honest, helpful critique of what you’re dreaming of and how to make it a reality.
  

Substack Seminary may NOT be for you if:

• You’re not ready to challenge the traditional church model - or not ready to be challenged yourself.

• You don’t have time to devote about five hours a week during Quarters (with time off between) to building your ministry.

• You don’t have space to give as much support as you want to receive.

• You’re not ready to think about how what you’re doing right now as pioneering the Future of Church.
  
  

Substack Seminary is NOT a traditional seminary.

It is:

• A community where you don’t have to add a whole paragraph of explanation after you say ‘I’m a ‘Cage Free’ minister’.

• A development, networking, and training community for ministers.

• A workshop – where you bring the real ministry you’re tinkering with and work on it in public with others.

• A formation hub – where you get weekly teaching, questions, and practices that help you grow into the kind of minister needed for the Future of Church.

At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.

Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
Right now. Today.
Subscribe to re-discover ministry JOY.

Subscribe now

Your Bodily Prayer coaches

You’re not doing this alone.

You have coaches - ancient Christian Practice trainers - who’ve been guiding souls for centuries on the practice of lifting hearts to God.

Gym members meet them at Coffee with Coaches live on Wednesdays at 3:30pm Eastern.

Coffee with Coaches

To join the gym, become a paid subscriber and

• get all the Practices

• join us for Coffee with Coaches

• and build your Trexo Workout (Rule of Life)
  
  

Subscribe now

Free Range Priest. Reimagine Ministry.

I’d like to introduce you to two of them with particular connection to the Bodily Prayer Practice:

1. Tertullian of Carthage: Your ‘make it constant’ coach

North African theologian, c. 155-220 AD

Tertullian says:

‘In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupieth us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.’

Tertullian’s experience:

Early Christians made the sign of the cross constantly. Not just at church. Not just during formal prayer.

It was the Christian’s identifying mark. It sanctified every ordinary action. It marked them as belonging to Christ in a world that was very hostile to Christians.

Tertullian’s coaching :

Don’t separate ‘spiritual’ from ‘physical.’ Your body is spiritual.

When you cross yourself - or practice any other form of Bodily Prayer - you’re:

• Marking yourself as belonging to Christ.

• Teaching yourself - and others - the basics of faith.

• Engaging directly with God.

• Sanctifying ordinary life.

Tertullian’s assignment:

For one week, make the sign of the cross at every transition:

• Entering/leaving your house.

• Getting in/out of your car.

• Before opening your laptop.

• Before picking up your phone.

• Before any important conversation.

Do what the early Christians did:

Whatever employment occupieth us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.

Notice what happens when you make every transition sacred.

2. St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Your ‘don’t be ashamed’ coach

Bishop of Jerusalem, 4th century (c. 313-386 AD)

Cyril says:

‘Let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are traveling, and when we are at rest.’

Cyril’s wisdom

Bodily Prayer is public witness.

When you pray with your whole self, you are praying boldly, publicly.

The cross was Rome’s method of execution for criminals and slaves. It was meant to humiliate and shame. Jesus made it the instrument of our salvation. To make the sign of the cross is to boldly say: ‘I follow a crucified God, and I’m not hiding it.’

Bodily prayer is supposed to be visible. Your body becomes living testimony.

When you:

• Cross yourself before a meal in a crowded restaurant = You’re witnessing

• Kneel when others stand = You’re confessing humility

• Lift your hands in prayer = You’re declaring openness to God

Cyril’s assignment:

This week, practice ONE visible bodily prayer in a public setting:

• Cross yourself before a meal when others can see

• Bow your head deliberately in thanksgiving somewhere public

• Kneel during a prayer when others are sitting

Do it “with boldness” as Cyril says.

Notice: Your body is preaching even when your mouth is silent.

Common Struggles & Solutions

As you practice Bodily Prayer you’re doing something new. You’re building your soul’s endurance. It can feel hard.

This is normal. Here’s how to work through the most common struggles.

‘What if people at my church don’t do this?’

Bodily prayers are ‘personal expressions of piety’ - which can be done in public worship.

Most Christian traditions use Bodily Prayer extensively - but in different ways.

Catholic Christians (Anglican, Roman, Orthodox) tend to use the sign of the cross, bowing, genuflecting, and even prostration in worship.

Non-denominational and Evangelical communities often raise their arms in the orans position when they sing or pray.

Mainline Protestant traditions don’t do as much bodily prayer, but they do kneel or stand to pray.

All of this is Scriptural: “Lifting up holy hands” (1 Timothy 2:8), “Let us kneel before the Lord” (Psalm 95:6).

You Can:

• Practice the gestures most often used in your community.

• Be ‘counter cultural’ in your worship context and use a Bodily Prayer not usually practiced (like crossing yourself in an Evangelical church, or lifting up your hands in prayer in a Protestant church).

• Only use Bodily Prayer in your private devotions.

The key: It’s all part of the earliest Christian tradition. All our ancestors took part in some form of Bodily Prayer.

What about my physical limitations?’

Use your body as you are able to focus on engagement with God.

Can’t kneel?

• Bow your head instead.

• Sit forward on your chair with head bowed.

• Lower yourself as far as you’re able.
  

  ---

Can’t lift your hands?

• Lift them as high as you can.

• Open your palms where they are (in your lap, on armrests).

• The intention matters, not the height.
  

  ---

Can’t stand?

• Sit with dignity and reverence

• Focus on interior posture (heart lifted to God)
  

The Incarnation teaches: The human form is made in the image of God. We are reflecting that with our posture, as we are able.

How do I teach my kids this?’

Bodily Prayer is wonderful spiritual formation for all ages.

• Just like in physical exercise, they’ll follow you.

• Cross yourself before meals, and watch your kids start doing the same.

• Tell them why you’re lifting your hands in prayer or bowing when the cross goes by in procession.

Make it their spiritual protection: “When you’re scared, you can cross yourself and remember God is with you.”

My seminary lived in community - we ate meals and prayed together every day, all the students and faculty and our families.

I remember once watching some of the young kids playing after church: they were playing ‘procession’! One of them held something up, and the others followed him as he walked. When they walked by some of the other children - who were 3-5 years old - the kids bowed their heads!

It was great fun for them - and they were learning to turn towards God with their bodies, even before they understood how they were doing so with their souls.

The Complete Bodily Prayer Practice:

To join the gym, become a paid subscriber and

• get all the Practices

• join us for Coffee with Coaches

• and build your Trexo Workout (Rule of Life)
  
  

Subscribe now

Free Range Priest. Reimagine Ministry.

What Bodily Prayer is

The intentional use of physical postures and gestures - kneeling, making the sign of the cross, lifting our hands, bowing - as expressions of worship that engage our whole selves (body, mind, heart, and will) in praise to God.

It’s our engagement with God

Read more

From Genesis to Revelation, God’s people have worshiped with their whole bodies.

The intentional use of physical postures and gestures - kneeling, making the sign of the cross, lifting our hands, bowing - as expressions of worship that engage our whole selves (body, mind, heart, and will) in praise to God.

It’s our engagement with God.

Read more

Bodily prayer is older than Christianity - by hundreds of years.

‘And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God.’

• Ezra 9:5 (at least 500 years before Jesus was born).

Read more

What Bodily Prayer is

The intentional use of physical postures and gestures - kneeling, making the sign of the cross, lifting our hands, bowing - as expressions of worship that engage our whole selves (body, mind, heart, and will) in praise to God.

It’s our engagement with God.

Read more

When I was in seminary, we learned to use the orans position - lifting our hands - as both a priestly posture and a general prayer posture.

We learned that ancient Christians - like modern Muslims and Jews - faced East to pray at sunrise.

So in this particular class, every time we gathered, we first rose to our feet, faced East together, and lifted our ha…

Read more

She was not a ‘fur baby’. She didn’t ‘cross the rainbow bridge’. This in no way compares to any human loss.

She was a dog.

She went through two college students and three names before we got her at 14 months old. She came from a great breeder who was quite upset when she found out her original owner sold her on Craigslist. We found her via text message from a friend, saying her daughter’s coworker’s roommate had a Great Dane she couldn’t keep. She broke my collarbone in the first 48 hours of living with us. We weren’t sure we could handle her or keep her.

But we were stuck with her, because we loved her fully and immediately. We named her Sister and called her Sissy - along with all the other nicknames she picked up along with way.

She had all sorts of issues - she was never really socialized, she bolted after squirrels (hence the broken collarbone), she barked too much, she didn’t really like to be petted, she lost her mind going to the vet, she was scared of everything. Jeff called them her ‘nonconformities’.

But she was the goofiest, most talkative, most beautiful, funniest, most full of personality dog we had ever met.

Lately, we would play a game where I would hide treats around the room for her to find while we were getting ready for bed. She would bark at me when it was time to play.

But she was terrible at the game! she could remember all the places I put the treats the night before, and she’d step on the current treats on her way to the last hiding places. We would shake our heads in mock disappointment. Her drug-sniffing dog career was over before it started.

But she was certified ‘bathroom search and rescue’. If you put a door between you and her, she’d stand there staring at it, ready to spring into action and get you out.

She died three days ago, a month shy of her 8th birthday.

‘Great Danes don’t live very long.’

I read a lot about all the things you shouldn’t say when someone is in grief or pain. I have heard them all in these last few days.

And I am here to tell you that they help - every last ‘wrong’ thing that seems boneheaded or shortsighted has been a balm to me, because I feel how much you care.

When you say that? - that Danes don’t live very long - I don’t feel you adding to my pain (I mean, you can’t anyway), I feel how you understand. You empathize. You know the courage that jumping off this particular cliff of love requires. Thank you.

In the midst of this ordeal - when Sissy was sick but before she died - I was talking with a neighbor, and he shared that his own dog had some medical issues, and his family was also having another crisis.

’You definitely win the suffering contest’, I said. And he was mortified! ‘I didn’t mean to diminish what you’re going through!’, he said. But I was just trying to add some levity to a sucky situation, and I told him actually, it made me feel better that he shared what was also going on with him.

’We’re commiserating,’ I told him. Co-misery. ‘You get it, you’re sharing that you’ve been in this place before, that you’re here now. That neither one of us is alone’. Thank you.

She woke us up at 2am on Tuesday (it hasn’t even been a week).

She was panting and uncomfortable, moving from my side of the bed to Jeff’s. Something was wrong.

I called the vet when they opened at 7, and they said the first appointment they had was at 9:30, but I should bring her in sooner if I felt it couldn’t wait. By 7:30, I knew we had to go.

At first, they couldn’t really tell what was up. The vet called her ‘ADR’ (‘ain’t doing right’), but they didn’t know why. Then some tests revealed blood in her abdomen, and the vet sat down and started speaking slowly and seriously.

She had a mass on her spleen, and she needed surgery immediately or she would die. There was a 75% chance it was cancer. I texted Jeff at work to come right away, and then texted all our family and friends. We needed prayers. We needed to feel everyone’s presence and love for us.

Sissy got through the surgery beautifully. Her red blood cell count never dipped below normal, though they took 2 liters of blood from her belly. They sent her spleen for biopsy. We took her home and started spoiling her even more ridiculously. I slept on the couch to be near her (no stairs for her).

She had a post-op check and she was doing great. She was starting to be herself again - a little salty about having to take 8 pills a day. I offered her one wrapped in cheese and she just gave me a look: ‘That is the oldest trick in the book’.

I took out the pill and gave her the cheese anyway. She dropped it on the floor: ‘Tainted’.

That’s our girl.

Then on Friday we got the call that we hadn’t even dared to imagine - the growth on her spleen was not cancer. She would be just fine! It was a miracle. We hugged and kissed her and texted everyone the good news and they rejoiced with us.

While I had the vet on the phone, I had mentioned she seemed a little uncomfortable again, panting like she had before. We went over the checklist of things to look out for - all negative - and the vet said it was likely because she hadn’t pooped since the surgery, and that would probably hurt the first time.

So I took her outside, and she managed to go. And then she couldn’t stop. And then she laid down and couldn’t get back up, and I knew something was very wrong.

Jeff and I wrestled her into the car, and he drove as fast as he could through Friday afternoon traffic while I held Sissy’s head and whispered how much we loved her. I could feel her ears getting cold, and see her tongue turning gray. I looked in her eyes and I knew we were losing her.

When we got to the vet, the whole staff came out, and Jeff helped lift her on a gurney with them, but I could not watch. I just curled up on the sidewalk, sobbing.

Turns out she had a blood clot that lodged in her heart, and there wasn’t anything they could do. Just hours after the call saying she would fully recover, just days after everything seemed normal, she was gone.

I still can’t believe it, and I still can’t stop crying.

I don’t believe dogs go to heaven.

I know this is an unpopular opinion. But I believe that as humans, we are made in the image of God. And humans alone are on the journey back to God, spending this life learning to love and be loved, and failing and rejoicing as we grow. Only humans sin, and only humans need to be saved and redeemed, and we are.

Only humans know we are going to die, and as Christians we believe in eternal life through Jesus’ resurrection. This is the only way we can bear the grief of losing one another - that we have hope we will be reunited.

I believe that animals are part of God’s creation - created fully and perfectly as the expression of God’s love. They are innocent, they do not sin, they have no need to be reconciled with God. They are not on the same journey that we are as humans, and that is part of why we love them so much. They’re perfect.

Sissy, despite her nonconformities, was exactly as she was made. Her life needed no transformation or forgiveness.

But because of this, I don’t believe we’ll see our pets again. I believe they’re like supernovas or flowers - exquisite in their beauty, adding to the richness of our lives in immeasurable ways, but fleeting.

But if you want to tell me how you see Sissy running free in a field, waiting for me on the other side of the rainbow bridge (as several people have already), I will hug you. I will thank you. I can’t agree with you but I will most certainly gain comfort from your beliefs.

She loved Jeff best.

That is simply the truth. He was her favorite human. She would try to get in the way when he hugged me. She’d take my place on the couch. She nibbled his ears in adoration. Only Jeff could cut her nails. Only for Jeff would her massive tail start thumping on the floor - even when she was mostly asleep - when he walked into the room.

Still, I work from home and I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself today, as Jeff goes back to the office and I face a whole series of hours unbound by her schedule (a walk, some lunch, the tug of a toy, a kiss on her big bony head). Or how I’ll be able to bear the silence, without her snoring (and let’s face it, farting) nearby. Without her frequent bursts of barking, incensed that other dogs dare to walk down the street. Without having to explain on every video call that I have a Great Dane, and sometimes she wants to join the conversation.

”Hearts up!” is what we say at the spiritual gym. It’s the most ancient act of Christian worship.

The Sursum Corda - ‘Lift up your hearts’, ‘we lift them to the Lord’.

I’m lifting my heart to God because I don’t know what else to do while I wander around feeling this pain and grief. Wanting my dog back. I lift up my heart to the God who created the whole world and everything in it, who gave me as a human the command to care for creation, including all animals, including Sissy.

A God who sustains me in my grief. And loves me fully.

You have sustained me, too.

All my beautiful friends and family who have texted and called. Neighbors and friends who have sent flowers.

And every one of you who has said the ‘wrong’ thing - who has commiserated with us by sharing the heartbreak of your lost pets, your grief, how you know just how we feel. You do, I’m glad you do. Because you know this kind of love.

Jeff and I used to joke that Sissy wasn’t quite a great Dane. We’d call her a ‘pretty good’ Dane, Jeff said she was trending. But we agreed by unanimous vote to posthumously grant her the full title.

And yes, we will get another dog, as soon as the fog of grief lifts sufficiently. Thank you for asking.

It will be a Great Dane. Yes, I know they don’t live very long. I love you for saying that.


Hearts up!

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‘Good Stuff’ = articles I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.

Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.

And … we’re back! Hope you’ve had a great three weeks. I’ve been blissfully off grid for a big chunk of it, but happy to get back to Good Stuff.

Here’s this week’s roundup:

God stuff

• ‘Have you Considered Giving it to God?’ by . ‘In truth, I do give it to God, every day, or try to, not because I think God will make everything come out hunky-dory, but because I cannot control most parts of life, and what else is there to do?’

• ’What If We’ve Been Looking for God in All the Wrong Places?’ by . ‘One of the most remarkable things about Scripture is how rarely God waits at the finish line. God doesn’t meet Abram after he becomes Abraham. God doesn’t wait until Jacob has repaired the damage he has done before appearing to him in a dream. God doesn’t wait for Moses to become a faultless leader before calling him. Jesus doesn’t recruit disciples after they’ve proved their wisdom or courage.’

Church stuff

• ‘Church Tourism And The Restless Soul’ by . ‘Whether or not we acknowledge it, our human desire for beauty, for quiet, for participation in the construction of God’s kingdom are constantly tugging at our heartstrings.’

• ‘The Leaders We Learn to See’ by . ‘We don’t decide whom God may call. Our task is much more humble, and much more holy. We recognize what the Holy Spirit has already begun. The more I’ve reflected on that, the more I’ve come to believe this may be one of the Church’s greatest responsibilities.’
  

Other stuff

• ‘Water Wants to Move’ by . ‘We humans have spent much of our history drawing lines around the earth and declaring what falls inside them as ours. This acre belongs to me and that acre belongs to you. This side of the fence is mine; the other side is yours. But water has never been particularly interested in our boundaries. It falls where it falls and then begins looking for somewhere to go.’

• ‘Bougie Water’ by . ‘Moreover, when you came from the other side of the tracks, like me, you did not drink water from plasticized bottles. You drank water the way the Good Lord intended: from recycled jelly jars, or directly from the hosepipe.’
  

What I wrote this week:

• ‘The Trexo story: becoming an everyday monastic.’ ‘I developed Trexo as a ‘gym for your soul’ to try and capture the spirit of monasticism - a structured community for devotion, discipline, and spiritual growth - and the challenge of athletics - becoming stronger and swifter, pushing the limits of what we think we can do.’

• ‘How do we know what is real?’ ‘If we believe in resurrection, we don’t believe suffering and death are permanent states. That changes our view of reality - and gives us HOPE.’
  
  
  

And finally…

At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.

Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
Right now. Today.
Subscribe to re-discover ministry JOY.

Subscribe now

Your Jesus Prayer coaches

You’re not doing this alone.

You have coaches - ancient Christian Practice trainers - who’ve been guiding souls for centuries on the practice of lifting hearts to God.

Gym members meet them at Coffee with Coaches live on Wednesdays at 3:30pm Eastern.

Coffee with Coaches

I’d like to introduce you to two of them with particular connection to the Jesus Prayer Practice:

1. Amma Syncletica: Your ‘don’t overthink it’ coach

4th century Egyptian Desert Mother

Amma says:

‘Listen! There is struggling and toil at first for all those advancing toward God; but afterward, my children, inexpressible joy. Indeed, just as those seeking to light a fire at first are engulfed in smoke and teary-eyed, thus they obtain what they seek.’

To you:

• Did you just say 10 Jesus Prayers and feel nothing? Good! You’re right on track.

• Did you try for 50 and kept getting distracted? Perfect. That’s the smoke before the fire.

• Here’s what you need to understand: You don’t have to feel anything for this to be working.

Amma’s fierce encouragement:

Your life striving for the presence of God is like Paradise; it must be guarded by a flaming sword - of prayer and the remembrance of God.

That flaming sword? It’s the Jesus Prayer.

It’s not complicated. It’s just reaching out to Jesus, over and over.

And feeling him reaching back.

The Anonymous Russian Pilgrim: Your “keep it simple” coach

19th century

The Pilgrim says:

‘The continuous interior prayer of Jesus is a constant uninterrupted calling upon the divine name of Jesus with the lips, in the spirit, in the heart...

One who accustoms himself to this appeal experiences as a result so deep a consolation and so great a need to offer the prayer always, that he can no longer live without it, and it will continue to voice itself within him of its own accord.’

• I was just like you. I heard “pray without ceasing” and thought: How? I have to work, I have to eat, I have to live my life!

• Then my spiritual father gave me the simplest instruction: Say ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’ 3,000 times a day.

• I thought he was crazy. But I did it.

• And you know what happened?

• At first, nothing. It was mechanical. It was boring. My lips got tired.

But I kept going. And then something shifted. The prayer started saying itself. It became like breathing. Like my heartbeat.

The Pilgrim’s promise:

Eventually the prayer will sink from your lips to your heart. It will pray itself when you’re not even thinking about it. You’ll wake up and realize you’ve been praying in your sleep.

That’s when you’ll know: you’re not praying anymore. The prayer is praying you.

And that is how you pray without ceasing.

Common Struggles & Solutions

As you practice the Jesus Prayer you’re doing something new. You’re building your soul’s endurance. It can feel hard.

This is normal. Here’s how to work through the most common struggles.

‘I can’t count to 100 - I keep losing track’

Get Prayer Beads

• 33 knots or beads (representing Christ’s 33 years).

• You can order them online, make them yourself, or buy them at religious bookstores.

• Or use: a rosary, dried beans, pebbles, shells in your pocket.

Or: Don’t Count

Abba Isaac says:

‘It’s not about the number. It’s about consistency’.

Just say it throughout the day. Morning. Noon. Night. In between.

Don’t worry about hitting a specific number. Let it become the background rhythm of your day.

My mind wanders constantly’

St. John Climacus says:

’Fell off 100 times? Get back on 101 times. That’s the whole ladder.’

‘How long before this becomes natural?’

The Pilgrim’s answer:

’Eventually, the prayer will sink from your lips to your heart. It will pray itself when you’re not even thinking about it.’

The timeline:

• Week 1: It feels strange and mechanical

• Week 2: You start remembering it more naturally

• Week 3-4: It becomes part of your day’s rhythm

• Month 2-3: It starts praying itself in the background

After 3 months of consistent practice, you’ll wake up one day and realize: the prayer has been running all night in your sleep. And you feel closer to God.

The Complete Jesus Prayer Practice:

To join the gym, become a paid subscriber and

• get all the Practices

• join us for Coffee with Coaches

• and build your Trexo Workout (Rule of Life)
  
  

Subscribe now

Free Range Priest. Reimagine Ministry.

First, it helps to memorize it.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

It’s that simple. You can try it right now. Say it until you don’t need to think about the words - because that’s what the goal is: to have the prayer pray you.

Then, start incorporating it into your life.

• Say the Jesus Prayer - aloud or silently - as many times as …

Read more

‘Have mercy on me, a sinner’.

We’ve established that the Jesus Prayer was developed by monks following Paul’s advice in 1 Thessalonians (5:16-19): Pray without ceasing.

But what often gives people pause when they begin to pray it is the ‘sinner’ part. It’s hard to think of ourselves as sinners.

Yet this is the true Biblical origin of the prayer.

It’s our c…

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The Jesus Prayer began in the 4th and 5th centuries with Christian monks in the deserts of Egypt and Syria.

These Desert Fathers took St. Paul’s command seriously:

‘Pray without ceasing.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

But how do you pray constantly while also living your life?

They developed short, repetitive prayer forms that could be prayed constantly: while wor…

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What the Jesus Prayer is

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

A simple, ancient invocation repeated throughout the day that brings your whole self into constant communion with Christ and transforms you from the inside out.

It’s our communication with God.

Read more

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

There is a monastic legend that a seeker came to a desert Father and asked, ‘How do I become a Christian?’

The monk says: Pray 100 times a day.

The prayer the seeker was taught? The Jesus Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

A simple, ancient invocation repeated through…

Read more