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 |
 Beloved:
Christmas is put away. About now is when I usually settle in for the warmest season of all - winter. The season of knitting, quilting and reading by the fire. But it’s still not winter. Yesterday my daffodils popped out of the dirt! I’ve seen them in February, maybe January, but never in December. Never. The chicken coop is slick with mud. My kitchen floors resemble the coop as one of my flowerbeds has become a slip-n-slide to the dog who hates baths. We towel her off in the garage but she’s wily and fast. In short, I’d be really happy if the ground would freeze. Not a polar vortex mind you, just a steady cycle of 25-35 degree temperatures with nice snow and no ice, until around March 1st when I’m fine for the air to warm and the snow to melt and everything turn green and lovely again. I’ll put away my knitting, scrub out the fireplace and buy some seeds. Who is ever happy? Never everybody all at once, least of all me. Who complains when winter is warm? What dog owner expects to have clean floors? The fact is, I can nest, whatever the weather is doing outdoors. I just like the idea of a fire on a snowy afternoon. But real life is messy with the completely predictable and with total surprises. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I pray you have a perfect week no matter what each moment brings! ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette My writing supervisor, Scout, looking particularly clean today.
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Beloved: I’m pretty sure nobody was dreaming of a muddy Christmas, but it appears muddy is what southern Indiana gets this year. All the same, our house is full of college students: mine and a couple of extra. Our oldest and her husband come in Christmas Eve Day. My best-in-the-whole-world girlfriend and her daughter arrive on the weekend. If Christmas is going to be overdone, let it be overdone with friends and family all in one house laughing, eating and treasuring one another. The season has its edges too. I always miss my parents more at Christmas, thinking about how much of my kids’ lives they didn’t see, how proud of them they’d be. I can’t not see the people around me for whom the season is not merry and bright. The poor fare a little better this season when the rest of us are slightly more generous. But the lonely are especially lonely and the grieving are especially sad. Wars grind to stalemate and the dying never stops. Refugees hunker down and politicians blather on. So it is that Christmas time is ordinary time with a layer of tinsel on top; spring-loaded with joy and sorrow, with good and evil, peace and war around every stop and turn. One day it’s muddy and then a perfect snow blankets the mess. Bullets fly in one neighborhood while kids sled through another. Faith takes it all in with the humility to be grateful for the good and with the courage to push back against the evil, knowing that in Christ we have all we need for our lives and our life together in this world. I hope to see you Christmas Eve at 7:30, friends. We’ll share music, scripture and communion. The service lasts less than an hour. Bring a friend. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette Beloved:
What Christmas shopping and baking I intend to do is done. My sweet daughter set up the tree and hung the stockings. The Christmas Day menu is less a meal than a spread of Sam’s Club appetizers. If I weren’t so lazy I’d write it up and title it The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Christmas. I’m not a scrooge, truly. I love having my big kids home. I love seeing our little kids so excited. The baking and the music is a treat. What I don’t like is the pressure, the sensation that something so joyful is also so expensive. I don’t miss the dollars as much as I miss the peace of mind and contentment I am prone to squander this time of year, fretting to meet some elusive idea of the perfect Christmas. You’d think it would help that I’m a preacher. Of all people, I might be one to remember the point of the season: preparation and gratitude. Remembering our need of Christ in the first place and acceptance of Him into our midst is the real task of these days, should we choose to do them right and do them well. Of course, such work is not for the lazy – the lazy-minded or lazy-hearted. So much fear and doubt to be cleared away. Guilt and good intentions clutter every surface. Longings I’ve refused to face for another year. All just waiting, should I choose to make this the year I do Christmas right. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette Beloved:
All over social media clergy colleagues are pressing the need to speak out against the anti-Muslim rhetoric spewing from the most clownish political wanna-be of our time. I continue to believe his babble is worth neither the air nor ink such speech requires. The pastor in me sees him as someone who wasn’t loved enough as a child, now so desperate for attention he’ll say or do anything. The attention he’s getting, it seems to me, is what should concern us most. If he isn’t paying people to listen to and cheer for him on camera - why do they? Why do they listen? Why do they cheer? Do they enjoy his show or do they share his beliefs? The difference is critical. The difference is the life or death of our society. The difference is also spiritual and thus I write - not about him, but about those who listen to and cheer for him. On the chance they haven’t been hired to do so. On the chance they believe that life by his rules would be happier or better or freer or safer for anyone. Only fear would drive us to believe such things. Friends, please, do not be tempted to go down this road. Do not be tempted to trust that a leader who threatens a whole group of people for their religion will not threaten another for theirs. And then another for their race and another for their politics and still another for their lifestyle. Instead, as always, we have to deal with the fear in our own hearts and minds. We have to tend our losses honestly and gently. We have to forgive ourselves and each other. We have to see the face of Jesus in every brother and sister on the planet. We have to hear His voice and know His strength in us carrying us forward in this world, trusting that in Him we have nothing to fear. ~peace & prayers, pastor annette Beloved:
The very best commitment I’ve made this year is not hurrying. All my life I assumed Thanksgiving Dinner was a lunchtime affair, meaning I was up at 5 and the turkey in at 6 to have oven space for everything else by 10. This year, since my son-in-law Dr. Jeremy wouldn’t be home from the hospital until at least 2 and possibly 5, we planned for 5:30. I got up at 8. I knitted a little before the meal. Carl and I took the dog for a walk in the park, before the meal! The five college kids voluntarily cleaned everything up beginning to end and then we had pie and coffee. Then we played with the babies and watched a movie. Then everyone went to bed happy and full. I’m not sure why I believed it had to be on the table at 2 but I’m never doing that again. What I am absolutely sure of is that not hurrying has transformed my life by transforming every day. And it has not been difficult. I simply don’t do more than can be done without hurrying. Beginning with calendar keeping, not putting more on a day than can be done without rushing, scheduling time for transitions. Next up is Christmas. Less decorating first of all. Less shopping overall and more online. How I get free shipping and so many delivery people have jobs is a mystery I choose not to question. Christmas shopping is usually stressful for me, but this year not hurrying has given me another gift: joy. The joy of book shopping for nieces and nephews who are now solid readers. Hearing what they read and what they want ~ I nearly swooned when one asked for a book about chess. The days are long and the years are short, don’t you know. And time is all we have of this life and each other. I don’t want to miss the sight, sound, taste or feel of any of it. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette A recipe for your Christmas parties. From Mary Ellen Oxford, mama of my best friend, Angela. Pepper Jelly & Pecan Cream Cheese Ball 2 blocks cream cheese 1 cup roasted, chopped pecans 5 scallions, diced 1 jar Tabasco pepper jelly Lay cold cream cheese blocks side by side on serving tray. In small sauce pan combine all other ingredients until just warmed, stirring constantly. Pour over cream cheese blocks. Serve with crackers & celery sticks. |
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
March 2025
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