Spirit, open our hearts
to the joy and pain of living.
May your love be in our listening,
may your wisdom guide our leading.
Spirit, open our hearts.

I had the amazing pleasure of leading a gathering of 400 folks from around the country in this short chorus as we prepared ourselves for a week of deepening our spiritual lives… a real “SoulFeast!” This yearly event is sponsored by The Upper Room. Yep, the people who have been producing those little devotional booklets that I grew up with (I couldn’t wait for the stash in the back of the church where I grew up to be replenished) for decades and in countless languages. They also produce some other wonderful devotional publications you’ve probably seen–Weavings, Alive Now, DevoZine and many others. Find out more about The Upper Room–especially MethodX for young adults!

Well, the week was a big surprise for me. Not that I expected anything less than great but what I didn’t expect is that even though it was one of those events where I work my #@!! off (worship in the morning and evening every day), I finished the week MORE energized than when I drug my tired you-know-what in at the beginning of the week! This summer has been so full and so exhausting in many ways. But in the middle of that, apparently what I needed was to be in the midst of 400 people who were ready to go DEEP. The preaching was life-giving (Trevor Hudson from South Africa… my, my, my get his book!). The musician I worked with was a friend and a fabulous collaborator (things just floooowwwwwwed…seriously… GET the new Upper Room Worshipbook compiled by Elise Eslinger!). The visuals created a beautifully worshipful atmosphere and helped to bring my liturgies to life (check out Karla Kincannon). And the teamwork from the staff at Upper Room was incredibly impressive and grace-filled.

Here’s the good news: they’ve asked me to do worship for this event again next year. Mark your calendars to consider coming to SoulFeast July 20-24, 2008. If you want a week of diving deep into spiritual practices, this is for you. To taste-test, check out the menu of this year’s event… SoulFeast 2007