ryanmotter

[ryanmotter]

There’s a song we sing in church, I often sing it when I pray.  The chorus is simple: No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I’m clinging.  If Love is Lord of heaven and Earth, how can I keep from singing?  He couldn’t have chosen a better day to have a stroke.  That was one mantra that got us through the first few days. 

[ryanmotter]

"Hmmm" is the Holy Spirit saying through another beloved, "You need to listen to the assumptions you're making about where you want the spirit to lead you." A year ago today, my Dad had a stroke.  It was the night before my thirty-third birthday. 

[ryanmotter]

Tomorrow we welcome you to the world. Here's a few things you should know. Dear New Baby Girl, Tomorrow is your Induction Day.  You are joining a small tribe of love that consists of your sister, your mom, your dog, and me, in descending order of importance. 

[ryanmotter]

How Can We Keep From Singing?

Of all the things it needs, this last week needs prayer. And, this next week needs prayer.  

Of all the things it needs, this last week needs prayer.  This last week needs prayer, and this next week needs prayer. These are the words I offered as our pastoral prayer during worship this morning at Community Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kansas City, Missouri.   This past week, Suzanne and I were on vacation together in Colorado.  We did our best not to look at our phones or to…

[ryanmotter]

An Obituary for Sabbeardical

Today, we say goodbye to a friend who was closer to me than usual.

Sabbeardical, nine weeks, went to the great beard-yond on September 7, 2016. He was born on the Fourth of July, 2016, “beard” of Rev. Ryan Motter. Caught with wanton abandon and hipster desire, Ryan thought, “How can my face say, ‘I am resting in the goodness of the Lord?’” Thus, Sabbeardical grew, much like Athena from the head of Zeus. Sabbeardical was a patchwork of grace, a tapestry woven of…

[ryanmotter]

When Grace Comes

I was going to take off the first week and spend it at Taizé. If not there, definitely Iona. If neither of those, then I was definitely going to walk the Camino. After that, I was going to spend a week at the Abbey in Gethsemani, get in touch with Thomas Merton and the Holy Spirit. And then, time to relax on a beach somewhere, with some awesome alcoholic drink made in a pineapple, served with…

[ryanmotter]

Thoughts from Convocation: #Sabbatical2016

The Convocation's voices lead Disciples in paths of witness and justice that must be followed.

It’s been a week since I spent a lot of time with our African-American family from across the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  The National Convocation came to Kansas City for its biennial session, drawing nearly a thousand representatives from South Carolina to California, from Ferguson to Baltimore, from Washington, D.C. to Nairobi. The National Convocation is a gathering “for the…

[ryanmotter]

Prayers for Our Daughter

"You should write something," she said. I'm not much of a poet, but this poem came.

On the day that you were born, the world stopped for five seconds, dust paused in the hospital lights like small ice crystals glittering the world, and the blue scrubs, caught in the wander, slowed to stop and wonder, “How will this one be different than the others?” And then, like a sudden ice age that caught Mastadons so off-guard they were frozen whole, you have stood our lives stock still and…

[ryanmotter]

Let It Rise: #Sabbatical2016

My First Sabbatical post, where I forget how to make something that must be made the right way

I almost forgot the recipe. A few years ago, I baked the honey whole-wheat bread almost every other day. I knew that in these first days of Sabbatical, I wanted to make the bread again. But, I couldn’t remember the recipe. A third-cup of wild honey, two scoops of yeast to start, and three cups of very warm water. Mix in five cups of bread flour, and let it rise, at least half-an-hour. I have…

[ryanmotter]

Five Months: How Soon?

I don’t know what this first heart-shattered Lent will look like for us as a new small family.

There was a funeral in September for a middle-aged mom I had never known, a random phone call from a local funeral home to help a family shocked by a sudden heart problem. October was a service for a longtime church member, a man whose legacy is the love he shared with his wife even after she forgot who he was. In November, Lydia was born. December was another longtime church member, a woman over…

[ryanmotter]

YDL: Wait, you're telling me that there's still 58 days until Opening Day? #liddybug #foreverroyal @kcroyals

[ryanmotter]

Five Weeks: Ugh...Vulnerability...

Five Weeks: Ugh…Vulnerability…

It’s been five months since anything appeared here. A lot has happened in that time and this isn’t a “catch-up” post, at least in the sense that this is not a laundry list of things that have kept me away. Instead, and perhaps stubbornly, this is the first of five posts that will be coming one week after the other in the next five weeks. It may seem a little stupid to make that commitment after…

[ryanmotter]

YDL: Good Morning! #liddybug #everymorningisagoodonewithher #mamasstillsleeping

[ryanmotter]

Well friends, today SOMEONE in our home sent a clear message that they are not receiving the attention they believe they deserve. #girldogjeff #ripdogbed #parentguilt #anybodywantadog

[ryanmotter]

YDL: Lydia climbed the Jedi Steps this morning after making the great pilgrimage, and she did something we all needed after unfortunate TCU Football news this week. Here's to a little Horned Frog luck o' the nose rub. #liddybug #thatnosegotdadthroughhisdegree #rifframbabyzoo (at TCU – Texas Christian University)

[ryanmotter]

YDL: Ringing in the New Year. #liddybug #learningthatwehavefingers #happy2016yall

[ryanmotter]

YDL: That finger says, "KC IS #1". #liddybug #chiefskingdom