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 |
Beloved:
I know a woman who can knit entire sweaters while she reads. I can barely drink coffee while I read, but this morning I actually finished a book, Black Power, by Stokely Carmichael. I ought not have graduated college without reading it. Then again, that’s the thing about reading: it’s never done. If I’m reading, something else isn’t getting done. Certain books remind us that certain things ought be left undone in order for us to be changed into the kind of people into which certain books might change us. Should we have the faith to sit and read, that is. The book list I gathered at a recent conference on race is like a day at the gym, but for my heart and brain. I’m just over halfway through Between the World & Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I can only manage a few pages at a time because of the way it hurts my heart. My heart must be hurt this way if I’m to be remade, and I want to be remade as it has to do with race. Next is The Half Has Never Been Told, by Edward Baptist. Such faith work is hard for me. I’d rather knit, of course. And I’d gladly clean the chicken coop or go to the dentist rather than have myself turned inside out like this. Just writing these words makes my stomach hurt a little. I feel losses coming on, but I cannot tell you what they are for sure. Confidence is one; confidence in how this world works and in what I’ve always thought was true. It’s a confidence I’ll be glad to live without someday, I expect. But for now I am mostly shaky and a little lost, which, as we know, is the perfect place to practice faith in the One who holds us all. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette
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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
February 2025
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