Jody Thomae

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About Jody Thomae
Jody Thomae has been involved in worship arts ministry since 1997, serving as a worship arts ministry pastor, worship leader, creative arts director, and worship dance team director. She has coordinated artistic involvement in church services and regional worship events through dance, drama, poetry and fine arts, and currently writes/teaches about creativity, spirituality, embodied prayer, and healing movement. She speaks and leads worship at local seminars, retreats, and women's events and is a guest lecturer on creativity, embodiment, and spirituality for Healing Care Ministries. Holding an MA in Religion from Ashland Theological Seminary, she is an ordained minister and embodied spiritual director.
Her passion is for the revelation of God to be made more real through: 1) the prophetic use of the arts in church; 2) creativity in formational and healing ministry; and 3) embodied spirituality. It is her desire to portray the message of Christ's desperate and unfailing love for His people to help sustain the hearts of the broken and weary. She is particularly interested in the reclamation of the body in the healing of trauma and wounding events.
She is the author of two books in the Bible Studies to Nurture the Creative Spirit Within series, "God’s Creative Gift—Unleashing the Artist in You" and "The Creator’s Healing Power—Restoring the Broken to Beautiful," both interactive, in-depth devotional Bible studies exploring the connection between healing and creativity, prayer and redemption, surrender and beauty, worship and wholeness. She is also the author of "Jesus In My Practice: Bringing the Questions of Jesus to My Movement, My Meditation & My Mat," a devotional guide for embodied practice.
Jody has a devotional CD called "Song of the Beloved," which is a collection of simple acoustic music recordings with readings from scripture and The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. It is designed to lead you through a time of confession into quiet meditation and rest in the arms of your Savior and King, Jesus Christ. It is available through iTunes, Spotify and other music outlets.
For additional creative resources and inspiration, visit Jody at:
www.jodythomae.com
www.fullyembodied.com
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Titles By Jody Thomae
A powerful kind of "Kintsugi of the Soul."
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold. When an object is broken, rather than discarding the damaged and broken, the pieces are mended, and cracks are filled with precious metal and, in many ways, make the object more beautiful than it was at the start. As a philosophy, it is rooted in the inherent beauty of all objects, no matter what they’ve endured. And the philosophy behind kintsugi is the same one that inspires this book.
Kintsugi is a powerful metaphor of Jesus Christ, the Master Artisan, filling and healing the shattered places within. As the broken places are tenderly pieced back together and repaired with his golden healing balm, they become a beautiful place where God’s glory is revealed in our weakness.
In "The Creator’s Healing Power—Restoring the Broken to Beautiful" you will discover a path to healing with a focus on artistry, beauty, creativity and worship. Based on the Formational Prayer Model developed by Dr. Terry Wardle, "The Creator’s Healing Power" is an in-depth and interactive Bible study exploring the connection between healing and creativity, prayer and redemption, surrender and beauty, worship and wholeness.
As an interactive workbook, each chapter includes "Digging Deeper" Bible studies to help you uncover more about each subject area, exploring what God's word has to say to aid us on our healing journey. These passages take you through a journey of healing with a focus on artistry, beauty, creativity, and worship. Additionally, each “Digging Deeper” Bible study includes reflection questions to use as journaling prompts, as well as instructions for stepping into a creative process as a path towards healing. Throughout the book you will also find movie clips, songs and videos to use as you creatively process all you have learned and how to apply it to your healing journey. In addition, each chapter concludes with a “benediction” of poetry and a coloring page—graciously shared by fellow artists on the healing journey themselves. Poems included are by creative healers such as Sarah M. Wells, Jan Richardson and Tom Graffagnino. Also included are stories and testimonies from artists and creatives who share how they have used their creativity to heal themselves and others.
Are you ready to begin a journey of reclamation and redemption with the Healer of All Healers? Are you ready for the Master Artist to take the broken, fractured, bifurcated and scattered places within and perform "Kintsugi of the Soul" in you? Let "The Creator's Healing Power—Restoring the Broken to Beautiful" be the place where you begin.
Focusing on the creative spirit within, it is designed to help you draw your inspiration from a Deeper Source. It is deeply rooted in Scripture—for the creative Christian must enter into the Word of God on a regular basis in order to know the choreographer of her steps, the crafter of her designs, the author and perfecter of her faith, and the sculptor of her creative heart, soul, mind, and body.
And to know Him intimately.
“God’s Creative Gift is, simply stated, a beautiful gift for the people of God. Integrating Scripture, experience, and insights from a broad spectrum of scholars and practitioners, Jody Thomae provides a pathway to freedom and well-being available through creative expression. She reveals that we, the creative gift of the Father, hold within the potential to unleash beauty and healing creative gifts as acts of worship to God and healing to one another. An amazing thought!”
—Terry Wardle, Ashland Theological Seminary
“In God’s Creative Gift, Jody Thomae emboldens every artist—amateur and professional, aspiring and accomplished, bold and hesitant—to embrace the power and potential of creativity in all its forms as a mode of worshipping the Creator. Through enriching chapters and devotional studies, artists will grow in deeper understanding of themselves and God’s relationship to their creativity. A necessary book for every creative spirit!”
—Sarah M. Wells, author of Pruning Burning Bushes
“This is a wonderfully insightful book [of] excellent theological and biblical reflection that invites its readers to know themselves as created in the image and likeness of God, the Divine Artist. The ‘Digging Deeper’ sections, which enable readers to embody the various themes of the book, add style and grace to her work.”
—Robert VerEecke, SJ, Jesuit artist-in-residence, Boston College
Jody Thomae has been involved in worship arts ministries since 1997. Her passion is for the revelation of God to be made real through the prophetic use of the arts in our churches and ministries. She is a graduate of Ashland Theological Seminary and lives in Ashland, Ohio, with her husband and two children.