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Beloved,
A paper cut to the heart is how I imagine it - the pain some of you feel when seeing yet another facebook post protesting the recent legislation signed into Indiana law, by your pastor no less. A cut you carry quietly, so as not to offend, reminding yourselves that you appreciate more about me than you don’t. And maybe it’s my own anxiety, that lurking desire to please all the people all of the time that pushes me to self defense. But here I stand nonetheless. I’ll leave it to smarter people than me can explain why Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act is a bad law legally, socially and economically. I risk offending some of you because this law is so contrary to the nature of the gospel we preach that to keep silent is to to deny the calling upon me to be Christ’s hands and feet and voice in this world. To keep silent is to fail at the one thing I am positive God would have me do. Have I failed before? Absolutely. Repeatedly. At this very moment I’m keeping silent about at least a hundred injustices around the world. Legal activity contrary to the gospel abounds in our country. Usury being the first that comes to mind. But this particular legal injustice came to my house, friends. All the political backpedaling in the world does not fool me. This law’s original intent was to legalize discrimination against gay and lesbian people. Gay and lesbian people to whom God has called me to be shepherd. Lambs. Lambs with baby lambs. Baby lambs that I diapered and fed. Baby lambs that have heard me say over and again Jesus loves all the little children of the world. Lambs I can’t let them hear me silent now. Especially not now. They are too precious. What they do and don’t hear at church about themselves and their parents will ring in their hearts the rest of their lives. Fifty years ago, when our black sisters and brothers struggled for justice, well meaning white Christians spoke too softly and said too little. We need not repeat such failures, especially when the stakes are so much lower. Hardly more than paper cuts really. I am so grateful for you all. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette
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While facebook friends in Tennessee and Arkansas have daffodils already I might have one handful by Easter. But all over the yard and woods daffodil greens are getting tall. Tulips horns and daylily blades are poking through the mulch. Every few days I see another new calf along Boltinghouse Road. Early spring in Indiana makes faith easier in an already easy life. I bear no heavy grief at the moment. I’m practicing patience through the smallest of trials - mostly having to do with drywall. But outside, life is coming back to life. What is brown will soon be every shade of yellow, pink, red, blue and purple. And green, so much green. I figure heaven must be tinted green for all the life it holds.
And yet, it’s cold this morning, the skies gray and full of rain. Winter tacks her own retreat and in the meantime I learn patience, flexibility and gratitude for these last few indoor days. ~peace & prayers, pastor annette Ferguson Dog Park might just as aptly be named Ferguson Mud Swamp. Dogs just love it all the more. The Golden Retrievers aren't gold very long. Instead, every dog is the same color within minutes of being unleashed. Yesterday Scout entered the fence like a bully. Chasing down and snarling at a big black mixed breed who turned on her too before running off to his owner. Scout got put back on leash and yanked into submission, crying the whole time like she was the one abused. The big black dog’s owner came walking toward me, biker boots, jeans, muscle shirt, lots of tattoos and piercings, crew cut. I prepared for the angry rebuke I deserved. Instead, she knelt down to Scout and asked in the softest voice ever, "Hey sweetie, are you okay?" "She's awful," I said, "She's in big trouble and I'm so sorry. I don't know why she has to act like that sometimes. Is yours okay?" "Oh he's fine," she said. "He's just a puppy too. They are still figuring it out. It's all good."
I mumbled something while my heart melted for how kind she chose to be with us. For reminding me that grace is grace, wherever it happens, whoever unleashes it. We didn't stay as long as usual. Long enough for them to get filthy. Long enough for Scout to get chased under a picnic table in terror by a three pound dachshund puppy ~ which was totally worth the wait. I pray you give and get some grace today. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette No kid on Christmas morning was ever more excited than me today, waiting for my new kitchen cabinets to arrive. Built by an Amish family in Daviess County from whom I’d ask a million questions if I knew what was proper. Just watching I’ve picked up that they use design software and email. Power tools but no shop vac. They use brooms instead. Their clothes have buttons but no zippers. Some wear beards and some don’t. They follow IU basketball. They laugh a lot. The speech between sons and fathers is ever so kind and respectful. And their product is positively beautiful.
I wonder what they think of me. Do they wonder about my family’s ways? Are we interesting to them in ways that beg questions they don’t ask but I’d love to hear? My husband would say, “Annie, they are at work.” Still I wonder. I drink up my coffee so I can go down for another refill when what I’d really rather do is pull up a chair and watch them all day. They’d surely be kind gracious but equally annoyed to have me underfoot. I want to invite them back with their wives and kids so we can eat together and talk and talk. But that would be weird I suppose. Business is our connection and it’s a good one. For now they are here and I’ll practice patience and restraint. No easy task for any kid on Christmas morning. ~peace & prayers, pastor annette I’ve shoveled more than my usual share of snow and I hear more is coming at week’s end. It’s beautiful and the dogs love it. One swims through and one hops like a rabbit. They are extra tired after 20 minutes outside. Three weeks ago I saw daffodil blades now buried under four foot snow piles. They’ll be fine. Daffodils are always fine. I’d like it more had I no need to leave the house. As it is I’ve knitted 26 cotton dishrags, putting me as far ahead on Christmas gifts as I ever hope to be. I’ve all but given up exercise. I go to work, stop by the store and come back home again. I spend as much time in pajamas as in street clothes. Take the flannel sheets off to wash and put them right back on again.
The days will be long again soon enough with all the weeding and the watering therein. Summer is my favorite but I don’t despair the winter. It’s warmer in its own way and I like the cozy of it all. Today’s main forecast is melting snow. Sandbags being given out in Ellettsville for the coming flood. Always an adventure. I pray the day is kind to you. ~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
September 2021
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