A Heart For The Spiritually Tired

Universal Voices is back with an all new A Heart For mini-series. In this final of six new episodes, Alissa welcomes Laura Kelly Fanucci. Laura is an author, speaker, retreat leader, and founder of Mothering Spirit, an ecumenical project on parenting and spirituality. She has authored seven books, including Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting and Grieving Together: A Couple's Journey through Miscarriage. Laura’s work has been featured on the Hallow and Ritual apps, and in popular outlets including NPR’s Morning Edition, On Being, and the Kelly Clarkson Show. She writes frequently for online and print publications including OSV News Service, Grotto Network, and Give Us This Day. She and her husband live in Minnesota with their children.

This episode is packed with all sorts of balm as Alissa and Laura enter into conversation around what feels like "The Great In-Between" of the current time in the Church--a messy and beautiful place of forging a new way of being, while at the same time holding fast to sacraments, Jesus, ritual and one another. They talk of what it is to feel spiritually tired, and offer a few gentle ways forward.  They also chat about:

• Tending to our collective grief
• Ritual as balm
• The power of making space for lament
• EUCHARIST
• Comfort and freedom in the gray
• The power of ecumenical relationships
• God as Way-Maker
• Focusing on our commonalities vs our differences in Christian spaces
• The well of personal experience, leading to the aquifer of human experience
• Clinging to Jesus and the Gospel 
• God in this one moment
• The beautiful work of Mothering Spirit

You'll also hear the two reference the wisdom or work of all sorts of folks including: Meg Hunter-Kilmer, Tina Guyden, Erica of Be A Heart Design, Shannon Evans, The Upside Down Podcast, Scott Erickson and Amber Haines.

Make sure to follow Laura on Instagram and Mothering Spirit on both Instagram and Facebook. You can join Alissa in supporting Mothering Spirit by becoming a Patron here.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Universal Voices. We are so glad you are here! An extra shout-out to  our amazing supporters who helped to make this episode possible! To learn more about From Here's mission and vision or for more information on how to join our growing group of financial backers, please visit fromheremedia.org.