New Here?

If this is your first time visiting Messy Jesus Business, welcome! 

Check out The Latest to get started, or click on About to learn about our mission. Some say we’re an online faith community. Others say we’re like a free Christian magazine or devotional. Whatever you call us, we’re totally into the mess.

If you’re wondering about our foundress and host, Sister Julia Walsh FSPA, there’s a page for that. Sister Julia has been frequently featured in the media, and is widely published. To see a list of her publications outside of this website, click on Articles by Sister Julia.

For over a decade now, Sister Julia Wash, FSPA and other members of our creative team have been offering their reflections on radical discipleship and the messiness of Christian life. In 2020, the website expanded to also include a podcast about radical Christian discipleship

No matter who you are, or what’s going on in your life, we have content for you. No matter what spiritual question you’re exploring or what time of year it is, we’re with you.

Here’s a sampling of our offerings. Everything listed below is a blog post, unless otherwise indicated.

For Times of Struggle

• It’s not our job to change people
• Encouragement when the world feels like a mess
• On the brink and remaining steady: solid footing in rapid change

For Spiritual Seekers

• Descending into the rosary
• Openness to the mystery of other people
• Bring on the boredom: the paradox of the path

For anyone “Wondering should I do with my life?”

• How Spiritual Direction Helps with Discernment
• The familiar, the new and discernment for daily living
• The myth of the self made person and the true demand of discipleship

For Activists

• Serving up accountability this holiday season
• What’s whiteness got to do with it?

For Artists

• Jennifer Grant: Childlike wonder and the mystery of faith (podcast)
• When writing goes wrong: why our obsession with creative productivity is soul-killing
• Alive in the studio

Most Popular 

• Father James Martin: prayer and polarities (podcast)
• The beauty of brokenness
• Clothing bales and hurting more than we help
• Pádraig O’Tuama: The language of lightness, darkness and love (podcast)
• A visit to The Simple Way
• Just sandals and a walking stick

Prayer

• A litany for the teens in Parkland, FL
• Prayer of mixed emotions after the conviction of Derek Chauvin
• A litany for our inability to end gun violence

Poetry

• When disaster strikes, God remains
• The struggle with loving
• As dust

Lent

• Lent’s inevitable disappointment and the constant turn to God
• The words of Oscar Romero for our Lenten conversion
• Signs of Spring in Lent

Easter

• King’s mountaintop is an Easter invitation for everyone
• Belief in the risen body of Christ (but what is belief?)
• Mud, muck and the courage of change

Advent

• Music for Advent during a pandemic
• Something to believe in: How Advent can lead the way
• Entry into Advent: the pacing of discovery

Christmas

• The most wonderful time of the year
• A woke Joseph and the great Christmas challenge

Ordinary Time

• Alive in the fire
• What’s so ordinary about ordinary time?
• Ordinary mystery
• Back to the basics in a time of war

Franciscan Life

• The wild love of St. Francis
• God make us poor and nonviolent like St. Francis
• Christian resistance in the style of St. Francis

Valuable Resources

• A Christian’s guide to discerning the Truth in a post-truth era
• Here’s how to help end gun violence with thoughts, prayers, awareness and action
• Casting a vote beyond the political haze

With an ecumenical approach, Messy Jesus Business explores the mess of radical Gospel Living as we advocate for social justice, live simply, serve others, practice contemplation and live in community.

We are a Christian blog about radical discipleship; a reflective and contemplative space and yes, a home for social justice activists and spiritual seekers. To see the topics explored in our blog, click here.

On alternate weeks, the creative team for our Christian blog offers works of creative nonfiction, poetry, and prayers related to the messiness of following Jesus in our modern world.

Messy Jesus Business Blog is just one aspect of our conversation about radical discipleship. We also aim to produce the best podcast on radical discipleship. The podcast is available every other week, and you can listen to it here, on our website, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Joining our community is easy! Simply subscribe to our blog, and subscribe to our podcast. You may also connect with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

We’re glad you found us and we hope you come again. We can’t wait to hear from you as you read, listen, ponder and pray.

Welcome to the mess!