In 2020, I used the social network, Goodreads, to track my reading. As news about the coronavirus, the election rhetoric, and the constant opportunities to self-isolate and shelter in place orders kept us stuck at home, my natural tendency to read nearly took over. I read 82 books. Eighty-two. Books. Twenty-two thousand two hundred sixty-one…
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’Joice Back
Anne Lamott’s words smacked me in the head. “My pastor, Veronica, said yesterday that God constantly tells us to rejoice, but to do that, to get ’joice back, we need to have had joy before. And it’s never been needed as badly as now, when the world is hurting so badly, because joy is medicine.”…
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The Silence
For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth: … a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; … a time to keep silent, and a time to speak. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5b, 7b I’ve been struck mute. I know you’ve noticed. I know I promised…
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Fat Tuesday Redux
A friend of mine once got me so excited about giving up something for Lent, I couldn’t wait until Ash Wednesday. At the time, I don’t think I even understood what Lent was. I’m not sure, even now, I absolutely comprehend the liturgical time of repentance. But my spirit tells me it’s important. It took…
Read MoreHappy New Year To Me!
It’s my favorite thing to say on someone’s birthday. It is after all the start of that person’s very own new year. Here I am today at the beginning of my own. Often, I take stock. Look around for something important to do. Try to change and work to become more me. I sometimes take…
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Epiphany
Traditionally, Epiphany marks the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. The three wisemen we often see crashing the crèche actually arrived a little later in the story. In reading up on Epiphany, I turned to one of my favorite authors, Shane Claiborne. Claiborne along with two others, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro, put…
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First Sunday of 2020
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” Matthew 26:26, nET I cannot remember the last time I had the privelege to be in church on the first Sunday of the year. The privelege to take communion…
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{Re}plete
Replete, from the Latin verb plēre, means “to fill.” Because we know that the Latin prefix “re” means back or again, it makes sense that replete would mean “to fill again.” But it doesn’t. According to Merriam-Webster: “Replete is the synonym of choice when fullness is accompanied by a sense of satiety.” It’s the perfect word…
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Penultimate (or {Re}plete minus 1)
There’s no again here. That’s right, no again. I haven’t been here before. For 364 days, agains have come to me sometimes by magic. Sometimes when I thought they wouldn’t. Sometimes when I thought I was making them up. (Seriously, retoast?) They’ve taken me deep. They’ve left me eager to learn more. They’ve taken me…
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{Re}st
I’ve learned a lot about rest over this past year. Sometimes it’s a nap. I remember being a little kid and crying for no reason at all. When you’re a kid you cannot always tell if you are hungry, flat out grumpy, sleepy, or mad. Once when my mom and I had a stubborn standoff…
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