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If I Have a Favorite

November 7, 2026

Night Visions-book cover


The season of Advent means
there is something on the horizon
the likes of which we have
never seen before.

—from Night Visions:
Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas

_____________________


People sometimes ask me if I have a favorite among my books. Officially, I don’t. Every book has been its own journey that has invited something different of me. But just between you and me, I will say that Night Visions holds a particular place in my heart.

It was my second book, and the first one to include my artwork (very early Richardson pieces!). Along with the artwork, I created reflections, poetry, and prayers as a way to explore the more shadowed terrain that Advent and Christmas can hold. I know that for so many, the holidays can be a nearly overwhelming swirl of hurry, pressure, and expectations about being cheerful and bright. Advent and Christmas offer so much more than this, with their invitation to be present to the Love that meets us so specifically in who we are, both seen and unseen. I created Night Visions because I wanted to say that in the darkness and in the daylight, God is here, and here, and here. In all of it.

It always means so much to me when someone tells me that the book helped them—that in a time that held pain, grief, fear, or simply too much that was pressing on them, they could open this book, take a breath, and be present to the hope, joy, and love that move through the season.

To each one who has traveled with Night Visions, thank you. For everyone as we move through these days and toward the sacred season ahead, so many blessings.

_____________________


To find Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas,
visit the Advent page at my website.

 

Posted in Advent, art, Christmas, Epiphany | 6 Comments »

What We Get to Keep

August 7, 2026

Image: What We Get to KeepImage: What We Get to Keep
© Jan Richardson

From time to time I find myself wondering—Amid all the losses and letting go that life requires of us, is there anything we get to keep? Is there anything that returns to us, not in the same form by which we once knew it, but in a way that reminds us that through all the changes and impermanence, there is something that endures, that has the capacity to stay with us? Something that comes as the opposite of loss, or as its antidote; something that repairs a seam of our heart with its unexpected return.

If you wonder this, too, this is a blessing for you.

Sometimes What Goes from Us

Perhaps it will come
as the lightest thing
imaginable,
a gentleness
you had thought
impossible
nesting in the hollow
of your hand—

the blessed
gift of it
nothing you would
have dreamed
but for how it now
appears,
come to tell you

sometimes
what goes from us,
remains;

sometimes
what flies from us,
returns.

—Jan Richardson
from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image What We Get to Keep, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use this blessing without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from How the Stars Get in Your Bones. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, mystery | 2 Comments »

Blessing for the Place Between

July 18, 2026

Image: Between Heaven and EarthImage: Between Heaven and Earth
© Jan Richardson

Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, Year A, Proper 11/Ordinary 16/Pentecost +8: Genesis 28:10-19a

And [Jacob] dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 
—Genesis 28:12

If you are betwixt, if you are between, if you are in the midst and the middle and the muck, if you have left what you have known and cannot yet see the way ahead, this is for you.

Blessing for the Place Between

When you come
to the place between.

When you have left
what you held
most dear.

When you are traveling
toward the life
you know not.

When you arrive
at the hardest ground.

May it become
for you
a place to rest.

May it become
for you
a place to dream.

May the pain
that has pressed itself
into you
give way
to vision,
to knowing.

May the morning
make of it
an altar,
a path,
a place to begin
again.

—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image Between Heaven and Earth, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use this blessing without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Ordinary Time, sacred time | 6 Comments »

Grateful Blessing

June 28, 2026

Image: Gesture of GraceImage: Gesture of Grace
© Jan Richardson

At this time of year, I am thinking so much about friends and colleagues who are on the move—who are leaving the communities they have known and entering into new forms of ministry as they begin new appointments, retire, or go on leave or a sabbatical. I wrote a blessing for one of those friends a while back and wanted to share it with you, for this time. If you are in any kind of threshold-y season, or know someone who is, this is for you.

This Day We Say Grateful
A Sending Blessing

It is a strange thing
to be so bound
and so released
all in the same moment,
to feel the heart
open wide
and wider still,
even as it turns
to take its leave.

On this day,
let us say
this is simply the way
love moves
in its ceaseless spiraling,
turning us toward
one another,
then sending us
into what waits for us
with arms open wide to us
in welcome
and in hope.

On this day,
in this place
where you have
poured yourself out,
where you have been
emptied
and filled
and emptied again,
may you be aware
more than ever
of what your heart
has opened to
here,
what it has tended
and welcomed
here,
where it has broken
in love and in grief,
where it has given
and received blessing
in the unfathomable mystery
that moves us,
undoes us,
and remakes us,
finally,
for joy.

This day
may you know
this joy
in full measure.

This day
may you know
this blessing
that gathers you in
and sends you forth
but will not
forget you.

Oh hear us
as this day
we say
grace,
this day
we say
grateful,
this day
we say
blessing,
this day
we release you
into God’s keeping
and hold you
in gladness
and love.

—Jan Richardson
from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image Gesture of Grace, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use this blessing without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, Ordinary Time, sacred time | 1 Comment »

Easter 4: A Blessing with a Gate in It

April 25, 2026

Image: Blessing of the GateImage: Blessing of the Gate
© Jan Richardson

Reading from the Gospels, Easter 4, Year A: John 10.1-10

I know I am not alone in thinking that life has been very threshold-y of late, in beautiful and challenging ways. So this is for you (and for us), for the fourth Sunday of Easter: a blessing with a gate in it. May we be open to the grace that comes to meet us in every crossing, every passage, every place where we are working to come through.

Blessing of the Gate

Press your hand
to this blessing,
here along
the side
where you can feel
its seam.

Follow the seam
and you will find
the hinges
on which
this blessing turns.

Feel how
your fingers
catch on them—
top,
bottom,
the slightest pressure
sending the gate
gliding open
in a glad welcome.

Wait, did I say
press your hand
to this blessing?

What I meant was
press your hand
to your heart.

Rest it over that
place in your chest
that has grown
closed and tight,
where the rust,
with its talent
for making decay
look artful,
has bitten into
what you once
held dear.

Breathe deep.
Press on the knot
and feel how it
begins to give way,
turning upon
the hinge
of your heart.

Notice how it
opens wide
and wider still
as you exhale,

spilling you out
into a realm
where you never dreamed
to go
but cannot now imagine
living this life
without.

—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image Blessing of the Gate, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, Easter, Gospel of John, lectionary | 2 Comments »

Easter 3: Table Blessing

April 18, 2026

Image: EmmausImage: Emmaus
© Jan Richardson

Reading from the Gospels, Easter 3, Year A: Luke 24:13-35

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.
—Luke 24:31

I am thinking about the Emmaus story that comes to us on the third Sunday in this season of resurrection. I am so grateful for how Christ meets us in the breaking of bread, and how, even (and sometimes especially) in our deepest losses, a table can become a holy place that invites us to recognize him in each other. So today, in whatever hope or hurt or hunger you carry, this blessing is for you.

Table Blessing

To your table
you bid us come.
You have set the places;
you have poured the wine;
and there is always room,
you say,
for one more.

And so we come.
From the streets
and from the alleys
we come.

From the deserts
and from the hills
we come.

From the ravages of poverty
and from the palaces of privilege
we come.

Running,
limping,
carried,
we come.

We are bloodied with our wars;
we are wearied with our wounds;
we carry our dead within us,
and we reckon with their ghosts.

We hold the seeds of healing;
we dream of a new creation;
we know the things
that make for peace,
and we struggle
to give them wings.

And yet, to your table
we come.
Hungering for your bread,
we come;
thirsting for your wine,
we come;
singing your song
in every language,
speaking your name
in every tongue,
in conflict and in communion,
in discord and in desire,
we come,
O God of Wisdom,
we come.

—Jan Richardson
from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image Emmaus, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, Easter, Gospel of Luke, lectionary | 3 Comments »

Easter Sunday: In the Garden of Resurrection

April 5, 2026

Image: In the Garden of ResurrectionImage: In the Garden of Resurrection
© Jan Richardson

Reading from the Gospels, Easter Sunday, Year A:
John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10

“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Jesus asked Mary Magdalene when he met her outside the tomb where she had expected to find his body. As Easter arrives, I am thinking about emptiness that comes as an astonishing grace and a discombobulating joy, calling us into a world we can barely begin to imagine but that we receive a glimpse of on this day.

On this Easter Sunday, beloved ones, I am sending so many blessings for you.

Seen
A Blessing for Easter Day

You had not imagined
that something so empty
could fill you
to overflowing,

and now you carry
the knowledge
like an awful treasure
or like a child
that roots itself
beneath your heart:

how the emptiness
will bear forth
a new world
that you cannot fathom
but on whose edge
you stand.

So why do you linger?
You have seen,
and so you are
already blessed.
You have been seen,
and so you are
the blessing.

There is no other word
you need.
There is simply
to go
and tell.
There is simply
to begin.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image In the Garden of Resurrection, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, Easter, lectionary, sacred time | 2 Comments »

Holy Saturday: To Hold Our Anguish and Hope in the Same Hand

April 4, 2026

Image: The Sixth & Seven Words: It Is Finished/Into Your HandsImage: The Sixth & Seven Words: It Is Finished/Into Your Hands
© Jan Richardson

Reading from the Gospels, Holy Saturday:
Matthew 27:57-66 or John 19:38-42

They took the body of Jesus.
—John 19:40

This is the day that calls us to breathe.

This is the day that invites us to make a space within the weariness, the fear, the ache.

This is the day that calls us to hold our anguish and our hope in the same hand.

This is the day that beckons us to turn toward one another and to remember we do not breathe alone.

In the Breath, Another Breathing
A Blessing for Holy Saturday

Let it be
that on this day
we will expect
no more of ourselves
than to keep
breathing
with the bewildered
cadence
of lungs that will not
give up the ghost.

Let it be
we will expect
little but
the beating of
our heart,
stubborn in
its repeating rhythm
that will not
cease to sound.

Let it be
we will
still ourselves
enough to hear
what may yet
come to echo:
as if in the breath,
another breathing;
as if in the heartbeat,
another heart.

Let it be
we will not
try to fathom
what comes
to meet us
in the stillness
but simply open
to the approach
of a mystery
we hardly dared
to dream.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image The Sixth & Seven Words: It Is Finished/Into Your Hands, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

 

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Lent, sacred time | 2 Comments »

Good Friday: Let All Stand Still

April 3, 2026

Image: The CrucifixionImage: The Crucifixion
© Jan Richardson

Reading from the Gospels, Good Friday: John 18:1-19:42

There they crucified him.
—John 18:18

All too quickly the breaking of the bread becomes the breaking of the flesh.

All too soon the cup offered at the table becomes the life poured out at the cross.

After the rending, after the emptying: an impossible stillness, an aching silence, an incomprehensible hollow for which no word will ever be adequate.

On this day that asks us to bear witness to what is breaking, may we not turn away.

Still
A Blessing for Good Friday

This day
let all stand still
in silence,
in sorrow.

Sun and moon
be still.

Earth
be still.

Still
the waters.

Still
the wind.

Let the ground
gape in stunned
lamentation.

Let it weep
as it receives
what it thinks
it will not
give up.

Let it groan
as it gathers
the One
who was thought
forever stilled.

Time
be still.

Watch
and wait.

Still.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

_____________________


Also for Good Friday . . .

Once upon a time, Gary and I created a video that intertwines my Seven Last Words art series with his exquisite song “This Crown of Thorns.” I would love to share it with you. [For my email subscribers: if you don’t see the video below, click here to go to The Painted Prayerbook site, where you can view it in this post.]

Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image The Crucifixion, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Lent, sacred time | 2 Comments »

Holy Thursday: The Final Word Is Love

April 2, 2026

Image: The Last SupperImage: The Last Supper
© Jan Richardson

Readings for Holy Thursday/Maundy Thursday:
Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19;
1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35

It is Holy Thursday, and we are invited to the table with Jesus and the disciples as he speaks his final words on this side of his dying. What he speaks of the most at that table is love. Thirty-one times he uses the word. He enacts this love, too, as he washes the disciples’ feet and shares the bread and the cup one more time.

The love that Jesus enacts and speaks this night is an extraordinary grace. But, as the disciples will hear him say at the table, such a grace is not reserved only for them. They are to pass the gift along: to enact this love, to live this love, to give flesh to this love in this world.

On this day, beloveds, this blessing is for you.

Blessing the Bread, the Cup
For Holy Thursday

Let us bless the bread
that gives itself to us
with its terrible weight,
its infinite grace.

Let us bless the cup
poured out for us
with a love
that makes us anew.

Let us gather
around these gifts
simply given
and deeply blessed.

And then let us go
bearing the bread,
carrying the cup,
laying the table
within a hungering world.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

_____________________


Using Jan’s artwork
To use the image The Last Supper, please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com.

Using Jan’s words
For worship services and related settings, you are welcome to use Jan’s blessings or other words from this blog without requesting permission. All that’s needed is to acknowledge the source. Please include this info in a credit line: “© Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. janrichardson.com.” For other uses, visit Copyright Permissions.

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Lent, sacred time | 4 Comments »

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