rev. dan king
let’s walk this faith together.
Author, Episcopal deacon, and speaker. Writing for 19 years on Scripture, prayer, service, and ancient practices that meet us at the intersection of everyday life.
Holy Rhythms for Hurting Hearts
Essays on Mental Health and Ancient Church Practices
Holy Rhythms for Hurting Hearts is a collection of deeply personal and pastoral essays exploring how ancient Christian practices can meet us in the middle of modern mental health struggles. Whether you’re navigating anxiety, burnout, grief, or simply longing for peace in a chaotic world, this book offers a gentle invitation to find healing through sacred rhythms like prayer, Sabbath, liturgy, service, and more.
Written with honesty and hope, this book doesn’t offer quick fixes. Instead, it points to the beauty of slowing down, showing up, and rooting yourself in practices that have carried the Church through centuries of both suffering and joy.
Author · Episcopal Deacon · Speaker · blogging since 2007
latest writing
on leaving your mark
Six-year-old me stood on a new boardwalk in Northern Michigan and looked down. Initials and names etched patterns into the wood, and I wondered why someone would ruin fresh boards, boards still smelling of new wood. I wished for a pen or a rock. I wanted my name...
pondering a fall
She'd just climbed up and in when it fell apart and down. The neighbor man made it for my mother-in-love and her sister when they were young. "The last girl to get married," he said, "gets to keep it." Mom gave the set to us shortly after our wedding. That bed's...
the sacrament of motherhood’s ecumenical moments
It's Sunday morning and we do not find ourselves filling a pew. Instead, I am home alone with the mighty seven. For once, not locking myself in the bathroom to find a moment of peace and quiet, but internally hushed with open eyes in the trenches. And finding...
serving others with hearts, glitter, and unicorns
A rag-tag group of elementary students sat at a table and hand-crafted Valentine’s cards. The cards would be delivered to shut-ins of the church. In the pile of crayon smears and scratchy writing lay my daughter’s card. She has a flair for the dramatic, so the card...
a fragrant offering
"O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge...
breath by breath
I am wound too tight by schedules and piles these days while quiet lingers always out of grasp, and so many bodies in tight spaces can overwhelm a heart longing for reverberation. His voice, it seems, comes to me like pond ripples, such a subtle vibration that I’m...
when the truth doesn’t set you free
She broke. I’m not sure when it happened, but it was some time ago, when the man she adored couldn’t bear the weight of clean living. Again. She fought hard, loved well, probably enabled, don’t we all, and then she broke. She left. She had to. The church talked. That...
hard-wired to stress
The Wall Street Journal published an article called, “Are You Hard Wired to Boil Over From Stress?” In it, the writer said, “Some become defensive or aggressive, while others become fearful and withdrawn, says the study, led by Marco Del Giudice, an assistant...
that’s it, i quit: three things you must quit in order to serve others
I used to think and rethink ways to live a life of love. I agonized over my self-absorbed life and poured over service opportunities. Then, I sat. I refused occasions to serve others. I’m busy. I don’t know them. I don’t have a heart for that. Not good. Then, I tried...
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The Feast of St Ignatius with a Celebration of New Ministry
