Pastor Annette's Blog
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"OF ALL THE THINGS GOD HAS SHOWN ME, I CAN SPEAK BUT A LITTLE WORD . . . NOT MORE THAN A HONEYBEE CAN CARRY AWAY ON ITS FOOT FROM AN OVERFLOWING JAR."
~ MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG, 13TH CENTURY MYSTIC |
 Feb 25, 2025
Beloved - Pictured here is one of a dozen supplies hauls that landed on the porches at church and my house since last Tuesday’s post about the extremely low supply of pantry stock at the Severe Weather Emergency Shelter. Hundreds of protein bars, dozens of pairs of socks and gloves, blankets, first aid . . . you did not hesitate. Most packages came anonymously, so here is my only place to say thank you for your faithful generosity toward the precious people served by it. When the shelter leadership team heard about the list, they asked for it and have added additional items so if you still want to help, there is plenty of need left. Here is the link, and remember, you need not purchase these exact items nor buy from Amazon. Anything similar is perfectly fine. Items can be mailed to or dropped off at UBC, address below, or to my address. In other news, there is the news: political and economic, foreign and domestic, all of which seems so profoundly personal and no small test of faith for people seeking to render unto Caesar and God, respectively and appropriately. It’s Jesus’ separation-of-church-and-state lesson to some powerful religious men hoping to trap him into saying something treasonous, enabling them to be rid of him and the trouble he made. That trouble, of course, amounted to poor and marginalized people waking up to their own belovedness, their own value, their own humanity, and their unwillingness to be regarded as less than deserving of the human decency and dignity Jesus’ love had awakened in themselves and one another. Brought to life and light, such love cannot be put to death again, no matter the hopes and wishes of people hoping to hang onto and expand their power over others. Herein is the gospel of Christ, of course. So, I am yet hopeful, in spite of what are sure to be evil days ahead. Days for which we will one day erect memorials, lest we forget the victims of the injustices and crimes committed in these years, and memorials to those who acted with great courage in these days to resist and interfere with that injustice and the commission of those crimes. I am hopeful that the living memories of so many people around the world will be awakened to do the good they know to do for love of neighbor and for love of common decency in the world where we all must live. However discouraged I might be in a moment, the hope in me is confirmed by the likes of you when I send out a simple list of needs for the neediest among us. Someone just texted to arrange a meet-up for another hundred pairs of socks! We will get through these years. How the least of us and the most at risk get through them is up to people reading here, people who claim the fearless love and power of Christ to do right in a world where wrong becomes more legal every day. May we all have the wisdom to know our part and the courage to speak and act in faith these days. ~peace & prayers, pastor annette B-SWERS Wish List Link ~ https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/KBMKVLCFK3O9?ref_=wl_share University Baptist Church * 3740 E. 3rd Street * Bloomington, IN * 47401
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Feb 18, 2025
Beloved ~ Sometimes I drop an ice cube. Sometimes Birdy comes in with wet paws. Sometimes she decides not to swallow her last lap of water and just dribbles it across the kitchen floor. However the floor got wet, nothing ruins my cozy vibe more than stepping in water in my sock feet. I hate it! And I have to change immediately, even if the wet ones are clean. I hang them in the laundry room and start over. Birdy has snowy paws every time she comes inside right now; sometimes she even has little ice nuggets between her toe pads. And she only goes outside for a few minutes a few times a day. Our neighbors without housing stay outdoors all day and sometimes all night too, which is why one volunteer task on the check-in shift at the Bloomington Severe Weather Shelter is asking every guest if they need dry socks and trading them for the wet ones they’ve worn for hours, sometimes days. We go through lots of socks! And I’ve seen a lot of frostbite this winter, frostbite contracted over years of living outdoors and some of it not so very old. One man has lost several fingers, but mostly it’s gray ruined skin on fingers and toes, hands and feet. Which is why shelter volunteers are forever on the hunt for cheap or free warm adult size socks. On nights after snowy or rainy days, volunteers easily give away a dozen or more pairs. Not just socks, of course; we are once again in the midst of more than a week of very cold temperatures with rain and snow too. Our usual food bank sources are extremely low on stock and B-SWERS’ own snack supply pantry is almost bare. I’ve added the list of things below that are desperately needed, should you want to help. Connection and care. In the daily transactions of our lives, connection and care are what we most want for ourselves and what we most want to give one another. Socks and snacks, time and attention. Seeing and being seen as human beings who want to be safe and loved, neither afraid nor mistreated, neglected nor invisible. As you navigate the winter outside your door, I pray you make time for good self-care alongside good care and connection with your neighbors who are hoping for our kindness. ~peace & prayers, pastor annette B-SWERS Wish List ~ I have created an Amazon Wish List here. If you don’t shop at Amazon, no worries. Most items are available at other stores, and similar items are perfectly acceptable. You can drop them off on my porch or at church; or if you’re using Amazon, ship directly to UBC, 3740 E. 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47401. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/KBMKVLCFK3O9?ref_=wl_share  Beloved ~
I have to go stick some of my bamboo plant stakes in the ground in case we get the two inches of snow predicted for today. Last time they cleared the neighborhood, snow plows gouged five gallons’ worth of lawn soil alongside my driveway. They’ll fix it come springtime, but I’d rather they not make it worse now. In other outdoor (wildlife) news, two does have taken to resting on the cedar needle carpet behind my house. They lay there for hours – sleeping, I suppose. I like that they find this place safe enough to let down their guard. Birdy has started a digging project in one corner of my front flowerbed. I’ll let it go for now, but come good weather she and I will have a come-to-Jesus meeting about it. The seed catalogs have started arriving; my favorite is this one, a family iris farm in Oregon. I’ll cut this year’s up for collaging while waiting to see what last year’s order is going to do in my yard this spring. A friend and I ordered sixteen phenomenal lavender plants between us ~ I hope to fill my tiny side bed with purple flowers, bees and butterflies. I might put one or two at church as well. In some ways this is the best gardening time of year, me cozy on the couch with coffee and catalogs, pretending my tiny yard could look like pictures in a magazine. On these wintery indoor gardening afternoons, money is no object and no labor is required. The season proceeds with a perfect balance of sun and rain, but no munching bugs or thieving raccoons. Certainly no tunnel-digging voles or moles! Tomato bottom rot is not a thing and weeds decline to sprout. But soon enough I’ll need to order mulch, and find some young adults in need of spending money willing to spread it for me. I’ll pick up my annuals and some new hostas to fill in the bare spots, and my regular flat of herbs and vegetables from my favorite farmers’ market vendor. (The picture above is from their farm.) The squirrels and bugs and raccoons will take their share and I’ll have the same stingy heart I’ve had for thirty-plus years. I’ll neglect the weeding, then catch it up in a day and be sore for the whole next week. My water bill will be ridiculous and Birdy will probably still dig where she’s not supposed to. But there will be days when the hummingbirds are thick and the irises explode with color; when the lavender positively buzzes like a factory at full tilt and brushing by them fills the air with perfume; when I cut a fistful of basil to add to my supper and bite into a tomato no magazine spread can ever match. For all of the work and all the money and for however great a difference between my yard and the picture in the catalog, I still choose what’s real. Therein is the sight and sound and smell and feel of the miracle of God’s goodness to me, three steps from my front door and rising from the most ordinary dirt found anywhere. I am deep down grateful for another season to kneel and put my hands to it. ~peace and prayers, pastor annette Feb 4, 2025
Beloved ~ Every morning I walk through my little house, clicking on grow lights and opening the curtains and every evening I do the same only in reverse, marking the passage of another day in the list of days that constitute a life. Yesterday I tidied up and took care of my baby grandson. I worked on my taxes and went to an appointment with my lawyer to sign all my estate documents.** After my therapy appointment I made supper and washed the dishes. For the rest of the evening I cut fabric scraps into 3” squares for a new quilt I’m starting. My favorite days are the ordinary ones, filled with the ordinary activities of work and home, caring for others and myself. Days absent of drama, trauma, violence or new grief in my tribe and neighborhood. And yet, I don’t want to entirely remove myself from a world where others are suffering or afraid. I feel deeply called to share the kindness and joy of Jesus’ love with them, and to work for justice on their behalf, insofar as I am able. Sharing life together with them is as essential to my own wholeness as caring for myself and my own kids and grandkids. Then I pick up the paper (my phone) and watch a video article of a family returning to their home in northern Gaza after 16 months as refugees in the south. The head of family was a 21-year-old university student and several children she was caring for, siblings, nieces and nephews. They had to pay all their money for transportation and still walked the last 10 kilometers (6 miles) carrying their luggage. Over 6 hours of walking, to find their home and neighborhood demolished. Their father was waiting on them. Looking over her neighborhood, the student said, “I want to live somewhere colorful again, far from the color of rubble and the smell of blood.” And my heart aches with the distance between our two realities, the calamity and the calm, between her normal and mine. Short of giving money I cannot think of a single thing I can do to make her life more colorful. Yet, it matters that I think of her and that she knows others wish her joy, and peace and safety and comfort. While I cannot be of much effect in Gaza these days, closer opportunities abound. The world’s deep hunger is here and now, in my own community and neighborhood, and somehow in the mystery of the universe I believe it matters in Gaza what I do in my own neighborhood. It matters in the realm of God that faithful people everywhere are exercising their calling, their vocation, on behalf of the hungering world. It matters to all the hungering people that all the helping people are doing the best we can with what we have. And it matters, most of all, to remember that the division between the hungry and the helping peoples is not absolute. Not by any means. The young woman in the news story has been head of household in very difficult circumstances for months. She’s the helper, even as her whole family is so desperately hungry for safety and justice. God knows I’ve been a puddle of neediness for the better part of three years now, which is why I am content on days that are positively boring and ordinary. I suppose this is enough for an ordinary Tuesday. I pray you get outside and feel this gentle air, see if your daffodils are popping through yet. Offer kindness if you're able. Take some if it’s offered. ~peace & prayers, pastor annette *Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, 1973. p.95 **I cannot encourage you strongly enough to get your end of life decisions made and notarized, for your own peace of mind and for the loved ones who need to know your wishes. Everyone’s needs are different and your attorney will help you figure out what’s best for you. My particular set of estate planning documents consists of:
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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 2025
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