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 |
|
October 31, 2023 Beloved: I read lots of books.* A friend helped me plant 155 tulip and daffodil bulbs. I walked on the beach and swam in the ocean. I played with my granddaughter. I sewed until my fingers and neck positively ached. And I slept and I slept and I slept. All of which is to say my three weeks of vacation was, to quote Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way. In the time I’ve been away from work, the weather has turned in southern Indiana and the most punishing of wars has ensued in Palestine. I can’t remember grieving any war like I’m grieving this one. I can barely stand to look at the images, yet we must not look away, not while other parents dig through rubble searching for their buried children. 150 babies delivered daily by doctors without enough water to wash their hands nor the pain meds those mamas need, even for c-sections. Ten of their twenty-five hospitals are gone. Gone. Because one group picked a fight they could not possibly win and the winner is determined to punish not just them but man, woman, child, grandma, grandpa, tree and flower in their extended neighborhood. Punish them to death and then some, it seems.
“There’s long history connected to the land,” they say. Of course. “And religion too.” No doubt. “And contemporary politics between other countries in play that complicate the situation.” I know all that as well. I’ve heard all these in references to the war recently, as well as “those people will never be at peace” — my least favorite for its smack of blanket racism. Every statement like these tempts us not to see what is happening in real time in Palestine. One of the poorest, most densely populated places in the world is being leveled by the strongest military in the region backed by the richest country in the world. Of course there is political nuance all around, but the reality on the ground is just that — reality. A reality in which parents write their children’s names on their little legs in case they are discovered in the rubble. As a precious colleague once said, if your religion allows for such things, you need a new religion. Mine doesn’t. The Christ who calls us to solidarity with the least of these makes no such allowances, let alone support of such terror and destruction, such dehumanization of one’s neighbors. Religion is as religion does, for all of us, and all I know to do is pay attention, name the truth, speak up for the oppressed and spend my privilege on their behalf when and where I can. It’s very little in a world that needs a lot, but neither is it nothing. May God find us faithful to all this day requires. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette Vacation Reads The Violent Bear it Away, by Flannery O’Connor /fiction The Wager, by David Gann (He also wrote Killers of the Flower Moon) Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese (my favorite of the bunch!) /fiction Europa, Europa: A Memoir of WWII, by Solomon Perel
0 Comments
I get so irritated with her sometimes, and yet, without her I don’t know that I’d get out of bed some mornings or outside the house some days. She’s delirious with joy when I start picking clothes out, confident it means we are going for a w-a-l-k. I don’t even say that word unless I really, really mean it; and however much I don’t want to go, I’m never, ever sorry once we’re home again. She snuffles through the leaves like she’s never known an autumn, and in turn I also see and smell and hear the seasons changing in ways I wouldn’t otherwise. She introduces me to my neighbors with an ease I don’t find within myself these days, connecting me to my neighbors, which in turn has given me an extra soft landing in this new life of mine. Everyone is working with something, amen? Grief and loss. Depression and anxiety. Finances. Addiction. Illness. Family trouble. Legal problems. Work hassles. Trauma. Spiritual deserts and emotional pain that seem never to resolve. As my therapist reminds me, It’s really hard to be a human being. Even me. Go figure. We need whatever tenderness comes our way, from whatever source it comes. I realize it sometimes comes with yellow fur and stinky breath, but with a sweetness and an energy that pulls me forward in each new day. I pray your day includes tenderness required for your own healing, tenderness given and received. ~ 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
April 2025
|
RSS Feed