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August 28, 2012
Beloved: I had a doctor’s appointment last week. Walking across the parking lot, I was fretting about it when I heard something. Exiting the building, holding hands and swinging their arms were a 60-something mentally handicapped woman and her helper, belting out “Keep on the Sunny Side of Life” at the top of their lungs. The sound was holy perfection and it carried my worry away. In the week since, I’ve tried to keep that memory fresh, imagining the two of them sharing their repertoire all over town, singing for anyone with ears to hear, as Jesus said. Too often, the soundtrack of my days is complaining; perfectly pitched and joyless. That isn’t the minister I want to be. That isn’t the human being I want to be. I want to be like that woman, joining hands with whoever I find beside me, singing - loudly - the best June Carter Cash song I know. I want to be like her helper, walking alongside joyful people, singing with them, loudly. ~ peace and prayers, pastor annette
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August 14, 2012
“The principal is where kids go who are in big, big trouble,” said one kid in our Blessing of the Backpacks moment of worship last Sunday. Ever since, the phrase, big, big trouble has run like a caption on my mental screen. Earthquake in Iran . . . big, big trouble, Economic outlook . . . big, big trouble, Presidential elections . . . big, big trouble, Family crises . . . big, big trouble, Drought . . . big, big trouble. On Monday I was playing around at home, cutting pictures and recipes from magazines and pasting them into journals, thinking about the fact that at 48 I am still playing with scissors and glue sticks and how someday my descendants will sigh as they haul crates of notebooks to the recycling center. “In a world full of big, big trouble, how self-absorbed is it to spend my time I sit here cutting, pasting and playing with markers?” I thought. I didn’t realize I was praying until the response came, “Well there would be a whole lot LESS trouble if more people spent time cutting and pasting magazine pictures instead of wrecking things.” There’s every chance, of course, that I heard the answer that justifies one of my favorite habits. Nevertheless - it got me wondering whether or not the world might really be better off if people, especially really powerful people, kept to themselves more, doing quiet, gentle things that made them feel happy and calm and restored. Then, when they began to breathe in public space again - their breath might be healing and restorative too. Their words, decisions and behaviors might be conciliatory instead of divisive. Over time, maybe, the trouble would be not quite so big and lessening all the time. Instead of cutting up magazines, C.S. Lewis walked. In Suprised By Joy, he wrote that he never trusted a single thought he didn’t have while walking. What is your favorite holy waste of time? Whatever it is, find some time to do it today and think of it as a little breath of life, your own little way of cleaning up a spot of the world’s trouble. peace and prayers, pastor annette Beloved:
These last few days of summer vacation 2012 are bittersweet for me. Number Two heads to college this time next year, and I feel him leaving already. He needs me less every day as he keeps his own calendar and drives himself to appointments, work and practice. Our oldest already runs her own show beautifully and the baby of the family starts her first job today, selling t-shirts and school supplies to college students. More often then not, Carl and I are on our own for supper which is actually pretty fun. With fewer meals to cook and fewer places to drive I can sew and garden longer. I go to the gym more. I pray and read and write more. It’s like when I was pregnant twenty-two years ago ~ only instead of a daughter, the baby I’m having is me. As the intense years of mothering wind down, I am excited to discover what else God will bring to life through me. I’m also a little sad. I miss the little ones who used to live at my house. I miss their voices and the smell of them in my lap after a bath. Plus, after 22 years I am have the hang of this life. I’m something of a specialist, an expert in fact. On everything else, I’m a beginner. Starting over isn’t just scary, it’s embarrassing. I have ask for help, take risks, try hard, make mistakes and then try again. It’s uncomfortable and unknown. Turns out, I rather like thinking of this new school year as pregnancy - but, joyfully, without the sore back and fat ankles. I like imagining that God has planted life in all of us that in due time will make it’s way into the world through us and that every experience and stage of life along the way prepares us for the next. Ours is not simply to wait, but to live in this moment fully, as gratefully as we can. I pray this sunny day finds you confident of of God’s good work in you and through you. peace and prayers, pastor annette |
I write a Tuesday morning devotional to members and friends of UBC. It is also posted here.
Enjoy! Pastor Annette Copyright
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