Pastor Annette's Blog
"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 |
"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 |
June 25, 2024 Beloved: What a great day! Ten people for lunch at my house on Saturday for my sister’s birthday. Some stayed to swim and visit into the afternoon at the neighborhood pool. I loved cleaning up after and went to bed tired, happy and feeling very loved. I remember being a child at such gatherings, all my aunts sitting in those aluminum webbed lawn chairs, not a few of them smoking and tapping their ashes into empty IGA pop cans. My uncles grilled and played horseshoes, and also smoked. We drank that pop – orange, grape, cherry and root beer – ate hot dogs, potato chips and cupcakes, and pretty much ran barefoot and wild until eventually an adult rounded up us kids to take our picture with the flat skinny pocket cameras all our mothers had. One time a little cousin was screaming from a bad bee sting and one of the uncles chewed a wad of tobacco which they laid on the welt with a wet paper towel on top. I was slightly revulsed but in ten minutes the welt was gone and my cousin was back in the pool. None of these memories took place more than an hour away from where I’m sitting now, in either Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan or Clay County Indiana. The people who attended were working people, a few military, and less than a handful had attended college. They drove trucks or worked for companies which supported their families with living wages and good benefits. My dad worked for the Bloomington Division of Wetterau Foods who sponsored a company picnic for employee families every summer at McCormick’s Creek State Park. All of which is to say that one of the treasures of my life is being a grandparent at the same gatherings on the same spot of the map where I was one of the grandkids. Now I sit in the chair, just so my grandgirl will say, “Netnet, come swim with me please. . . .” And I always do, making the memories she will carry when she watches her own grandkids some summer, 2075 maybe. I hope she will remember these days as joyfully as I remember mine. I hope she will also remember being as loved and watched over, so free to be a kid I didn’t even know how loved and free I was.
These days are all we have, beloved, so treasure them. Keep the joy and release the sorrow as fully as you can. Believe me when I say I know how difficult it is. But only the joy will carry us when we get the lonelies, that temporary but oh-so-real feeling that we are all alone in this world, despite the head knowledge that we are surrounded by people who love and care for us. Sometimes head knowledge just won’t soothe the heart, but deeper joy born of long memory comforts me. Remembering I have been loved all my life, by people who are still my people though long gone from this world, comforts me through more than words can say, and in turn reminds me that God’s love, though also not of this world, is ever present here and now. From it I can draw strength for this new day, whatever this new day brings. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette
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June 18, 2024 Beloved: My neighbor and I were out watering and chatting last evening when we heard what sounded like thunder. No way, we both agreed. I was about done but she watered even as the raindrops fell. Despite this morning’s sprinkles, my garden is dry as dust. Lush just four days ago, my basil is now decimated by Japanese beetles. When I kept backyard chickens I could turn them loose in my garden and they’d pick my plants clean of beetles and bugs. Still, bees are working the lavender and I should see monarch caterpillars on the butterfly weed any day now, so all is not nuisance and bother in my garden. I also spent some of yesterday trying to restore some order indoors. Nothing satisfies quite like cleaning out my refrigerator. I’ll refrain from adding a photo, but trust me, it’s impressive. Everything is so shiny clean and organized, which is how it will stay until the next time I put away groceries. I also have a bag and box of things from around the house to donate. A new router came in the mail and I got it set up all by myself, but that meant taking nearly everything off my desk so now this space is sorted and organized too. Of course, I make a mess to clean up a mess, so it matters where one looks when seeking to be impressed. The connections are easy-peasy. However much I wish my life could be orderly inside and out, there are simply too many factors not in my control. And even if they were, I don’t have the energy or focus to manage all of them all the time. Peace with my own weakness and failure is the better part of faith, I suppose, knowing I am doing the best I can and most of all, that God is faithful, always. Always. Always. Always. If I’ve learned anything at all, it’s to step into the day slowly. Allow room between sleep and work: to wake up, to listen, to practice gratitude, to center myself in heart and mind and body, to center myself in the day and to honor what is truly reasonable to expect of one person in one day in this world right now. Then go forth from there, with much forgiveness for my own imperfection, as well as others’, choosing to believe that most of us are doing the best we can most of the time. While God is forever in the mix as well, faithful in our weakness. Especially in our weakness. I pray the day is gentle and kind to you. ~peace & prayers, pastor annette
June 11, 2024 I am with you always, even to the end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:2 Beloved -
The sanctuary looks positively delightful transformed into the Australian Outback, made entirely of cardboard, styrofoam, chicken wire and paint. Lots of paint. Thanks to Emily Briggs for the design and most of the painting. Thanks to a crew of volunteers for the construction and set up. Our first night was sweet as sweet can be with little kids in their plastic pith helmets, or party hats, as one toddler called hers. The Bible lessons tell of a man named Joseph and how God stayed close when Joseph was in the well, in jail and in charge of a whole kingdom! What a privilege and a joy to share our life together alongside sister congregations Red Door Church and McDoel Baptist Church yet another summer. 2024 makes the 27th year (minus 3 for pandemic) since we started doing VBS. Kids who came when they were little are now teenagers helping lead the program. At least one who attended now brings her little girl. Layer upon layer, I like to say, of memories of church and church people welcoming kids in the name of Jesus. I care less that they remember Bible stories than that they remember once upon a time being loved by people who claimed to love the Lord. As always, it’s my privilege to serve the kingdom in the company of such precious people. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette How to donate: Use this link to use the online Tithe.ly donation service. It is not necessary to create a Tithe.ly account. At the top of the form where you can choose which fund, select “Other”; and then in the Memo section at the bottom, add “VBS.” You have the option to add on the processing fee of approximately $1 per $25 donation, but that is totally optional. If you prefer, you can mail a check made out to University Baptist Church or simply to UBC and send it to 3740 E. 3rd St., Bloomington, IN 47401. Of course, we would also love for you to bring it by ! (Call us at 812-339-1404 or email us to find out when we will be open.) ![]() June 4, 2024 Beloved: I never get tired of looking at David Hayward’s art. I give little prints and coffee mugs as gifts. This print is new to me, and I love it for how fun it is to think about Jesus surfing, skimming the wave of LGBTQIA+ inclusion as if God invented this sport called Love. “Love, without the fine print,” as Hayward says. PRIDE Month is another of heritage months we ought not need but do, months marking the existence and contributions of people we have marginalized, despite Creation’s full inclusion of them.* Hayward treats human differences as natural, as ordinary as the wind which gives rise to the water upon which the surfer rides. While his artistic nudges against religious bigotries and prejudice are whimsical and funny, we are not let off the hook of our own responsibility, spiritual and moral. Be better Christians, be better human beings. He preaches with a crayon. On a coffee mug. Being a human being is really hard, isn’t it? Puzzling out the prejudice bred into us is slow and difficult, yet the difficulty does not relieve us of Jesus’ call to love our neighbor as he first loved us. Never. Nor is our difficulty near as heavy as the burden borne by people this prejudice has harmed.** Hard as it has been at times, coming to terms with the myopia of my own upbringing as a white, church-attending, middle-class person in the western hemisphere is an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. Comparable from moving from black-and-white to color photography. The world is so much more vibrant in every possible way. So much more interesting and exciting. So much more unpredictable. Faith too, packaged in language and flavor certainly not original in Southern Indiana, where everything begins with corn, and no one ever puts Jesus on a surfboard.
I pray summer is coming on kindly for you, that you have work you love and people who love you within reach. I’m grateful for your great kindness to me these days. ~peace & prayer, pastor annette * US History Heritage Months:
**More than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people (ages 13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/ |
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
February 2025
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