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 |
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September 17, 2019 Beloved: I am going on an adventure! My first stop is Toronto, where I’ll spend a night and a day having a ball with two Canadian preacher friends, Takouhi and Jill. From there I’m headed to India for three weeks of yoga, sight-seeing and time with the family of one of our sons-by-other-mothers, Seine. His parents live in Imphal, a city in the far east of India, nearly to Myanmar. I’m very excited to negotiate such complicated travel by myself (I meet up with my group once arriving in New Delhi) and even more excited to be in a place so different from Indiana. I’m excited to be changed the way only travel can change a person’s heart, mind and soul. In my absence, Rob, Fan, Laura Beth and the deacons will take care of everything at church. We’ve lined up wonderful supply preachers and I’m counting on you all to watch out for each other like you always do. Welcome new friends and don’t forget to eat together on Wednesday Night, September 25th. Tuesday morning columns will still appear and I’ll post trip pictures on Facebook as I have wi-fi access. I will be back in church on Sunday, October 20th and look forward to seeing you then. Much love and, as always,
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Call me enchanted, but I have seen nature’s labor up close, and she does the far greater share, turning the planet around and to the light so it falls just right on my little garden. I did not do that. Blowing rain clouds past my place to shower my flowering vines for free. Bees, hummingbirds and butterflies sent to pollinate them in their season. None of that was me either. My part has been negligible since I poked the seeds into the ground. Which isn’t to say farmers don’t work hard, only that all our labors are in consequence to the miracles of nature. Great or small, the miracle is worth remembering when we sit down at our laden tables.  Beloved: Jesus’ trio of stories about lost things has been on my mind since last Thursday when I discovered the stone has fallen out of my wedding ring. I’ve crawled on the floor with a flashlight at home and at church. I’ve shaken out my sheet, swept my kitchen and sifted dirt from dog hair to no avail. Hoping against hope, I even called our insurance agent only to discover lost jewelry isn’t covered. I walk with my head down, stooping for every glint or glitter of light. So far I’ve found staples, Sunday School glitter, foil, a straight pin, gravel galore and oodles of onion skin bits. Who knew onion skin was so glinty! It could be in the chicken coop or the garden. It could be in a trash bag at the landfill. The only place it cannot possibly be is nowhere. To his ever-loving patience and my joy, my husband has been nothing but comfort. “Ah well,” he said when I told him, “we’ll just have to get another someday.” More seriously he said over and over, “It’s just a thing.” And while I still mostly walk along looking for glitter on the ground, I absolutely believe him. Life is too short and the world is too beautiful to spend a moment grieving over what can be replaced instead of enjoying what is ours right now. I pray this gorgeous day is full of light and love as you move through it. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette P.S. These pictures are of a rogue cucumber vine growing from a pot on my porch. Can you see how the end of it looks like a giant praying mantis?
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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
December 2024
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