One of my favorite pastimes is doing yard work. I grew up doing it, and some of my earliest and fondest memories are of my dad pushing the lawn mower and me following behind with a rake, clearing the clippings. Maybe it’s the smell of fresh cut grass, or of earth and gasoline on your hands and clothing after a good day’s work; maybe it’s the sense of accomplishment you feel, turning energy and sweat into a good looking lawn that you can play in with your kids or your dog; or maybe there’s just something about caring for creation that’s innately satisfying for the soul, obeying God’s ancient and fundamental commandment to “tend the garden,” so to speak....

This post is part of the Desert Prayers Project, a component of my doctoral thesis work through Virginia Theological Seminary.

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever....

One of Evagrius’s lesser known writings is his Letter to Melania. A “Desert Mother,” Melania managed a monastery in Jerusalem and is credited with inspiring Evagrius to embrace a monastic life in the Egyptian desert. In this eloquent and tender letter, Evagrius expounds on some of his mystical, “gnostic” insights–he had come to understand creation itself as a love letter, chronicling God’s desire for us. “Just as those who teach the alphabet to children trace the letters on tablets, so too, Christ, in order to teach his wisdom to the rational beings, has inscribed it into corporeal nature” (Harmless, William....

Probably like some of you, I have been spending a good deal of time in front of the TV lately watching the Olympics. And I’ll come right out and say it … it’s been a rough one this year. The constant commentary on political tensions with China, and the heartbreaking doping scandal involving a fifteen-year-old Russian figure skater–overlayed, of course, by the threat of war in Eastern Europe. The only sport I’ve really been able to enjoy watching this year has been curling, of all things....