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Beloved:
Blech, winter rain! Hands down has to be my least favorite weather. 8:44 am and the house is cold. The dogs are shut up in the laundry room until they dry out. If I was staying home today I’d build a fire, drink tea and read all day. But alas, I am not a bear and hibernating is not a choice. International friends will arrive at church at 1 pm, expecting their coffee, crafts and conversation and I’ll be glad I showed up. Sloth is one of the deadly sins, I suppose for the way it kills the spirit. The moment I choose to stay home, I make tea and decide to read in bed. The next thing I know kids are coming through the door and I’ve slept the day away in a pile of books and golden retrievers. Just writing this makes me sleepy. Of course I’m writing while wrapped in a quilt. A day long nap isn’t a sin if it’s my day off or if I’m sick. No and no. It’s Tuesday. Tuesdays are for column writing, sermon study, email, Global Women’s Gathering, more study or phone calls, making supper,* eating supper, reading or quilting, bedtime. Rain or shine. Showing up is half the work of any project don’t you think? My mother-in-law used to say, “Getting out of bed is the hardest work I do all day.” No wonder those desert monastics slept on the ground with nary a blanket or pillow. The lumpy bed made getting up to pray at 3 am lots easier ~ rain or shine. This time tomorrow it will be snowy slush which I consider a slight improvement. A new day to be out and about the Lord’s business, including Wednesday Night Supper. It’s one of your favorites - meatloaf and mashed potatoes - so I hope you’ll come - rain or shine. peace & prayers, pastor annette *Truth be told I sometimes grab a little couch snooze if dinner is an oven dish.
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Beloved: I ordered our first 9 chicks yesterday. In the next three days they will hatch somewhere in Missouri and then be Fed-Ex’ed to the farm supply store in Ellettsville on Friday morning so I can bring them home Friday afternoon. The first day is settling them in and introducing them to the cat and dogs, mostly the cat. My chicken book has many tips about explaining to the cat, these are pets, they are not food. My son, Ben, carried their brooding crib, bedding, heat lamp, and feeding supplies from the garage to my home office which will be their nursery for the next eight weeks. In the meantime we have to build their outdoor coop. We’ll have some for laying and some for meat, though Carl is in charge of the coop to table process. Since we’ll have no roosters I’m going to name our coop The Convent and watch them keep community. Of course my mama is in heaven rolling her eyes. She grew up on a farm and hating chicken work most of all. Her mama rolled her eyes one summer when I told her I was canning tomatoes, “Honey, don’t you know the IGA sells tomatoes already in the can? Even if they are rolling their eyes and looking at each other knowingly, keeping hens makes me feel them a little nearer as I go about the same chores they did. it also makes me feel a closer to God when I’m caring for creatures, watching their ways and receiving their gifts. No doubt I’ll have lots more to write about them in the next few weeks. For now, here are some stock pictures. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette
Beloved:
Welcome to Lent! I also call it the season of the overflowing recycling bin ~ because of the dozens of worship services I write, rewrite, and revise over the weeks until Easter. This year I’m giving up what I’m called mindless waste in favor of mindful use. Exactly how much use can I get from one sheet of paper? one plastic bag? one magazine? The idea is to use mindfullly . . . . to practice paying attention ALL the time. I have the idea it might teach me about time itself, that whatever I am doing - I am using using up the minutes and hours of time that add up to the gift which is life itself. Whatever else Lenten practice ought be ~ it ought be practical. Toward that end I have a web link to share with you that offers daily Lenten practices in fasting*praying*giving. Here is their description: “Traditionally, Lent was a time for personal conversion leading up to Easter, during which Christians practiced the spiritual disciplines of fasting, praying and almsgiving to strip away all that is unnecessary and become more mindful of their ultimate dependence on God. Let’s recapture the true meaning of Lent in ways that are actually relevant to your life. Each day throughout Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, the calendar’s link for that day will become active, revealing a Daily Jolt for spiritual contemplation relating to Lent, and new and practical ideas for fasting, prayer and almsgiving.” I love that the calendar won’t let us read ahead, which encourages the dailiness of the practice. Here’s the site ~ http://bustedhalo.com/features/fast-pray-give-2013. Ash Wednesday service is tonight at 7 p.m. I hope to see you there. peace & prayers, pastor annette |
I write a Tuesday morning devotional to members and friends of UBC. It is also posted here.
Enjoy! Pastor Annette Copyright
Everything on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons license, which gives you permission to copy freely, provided that you attribute the work to me, that you use the work for non-commercial purposes, and that you do not produce derivative works. Archives
April 2019
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