August 1 marked the beginning of the new work year for me and I have to say I'm very glad to be back, feeling productive, with projects to pursue, sermons to plan and write, discussions with congregants and board leaders. I did feel as though my July hiatus was productive in a different way, spending a good deal of time away from the island, seeing longtime friends at both my reunion and at Eliot Institute.
Last Saturday was a big deal, as Trilogy and Bayview Sound both were headline bands at the first annual WISH-AID day here in Freeland. WISH is an acronym for Whidbey Island Share a Home, a local agency that matches people with room in their homes with people who need a home and don't have much money. The event netted about $3500, not bad for a first-time event. Eleven bands donated their musical talents to the day.
Saturday night, my friend Sarah from Portland arrived for the night; she was due to preach at UUCWI the next morning. It was fun to catch up with her; we'd been at Eliot together a couple of weeks ago, both on staff, but we hadn't had much time to talk. She caught me up on the doings at my former congregation in Portland, filling me in on who was still there, who was struggling, how the congregation is doing generally (much improved, it sounds).
I haven't had much energy for blogging this week; I've been more interested in getting back in the swim of ministry. But the topic for this coming Sunday is a good one, about theology and theological questions, since the theme for our upcoming year is the great theological questions of human life.
So I'm putting together a sermon on what theology is, especially in a pluralistic congregation like ours where there is so much diversity of views. I'm looking forward to our Time for all Ages, which I've asked our youthful worship leader to do, using riddles, as an example of questions that require us to wrap our brains around an idea in a different way. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.
Max injured himself somehow on Monday, coming in during the day with a very painful right hind leg, so sore he hissed and bit at me when I tried to touch it. So Tuesday morning it was off to the vet, where it was discovered that he had a developing abscess, probably from a bite by another cat. We caught it before it got too bad and a shot of antibiotic has put him back in the pink today. He's nearly back to normal and I expect the carcasses to start piling up again soon.
Now that I'm back at work, I hope the ideas for blog posts begin to develop. I don't like being silent!
5 comments:
Now, in medieval theology, of course, one of the main lines was
"memento mori", meaning something like "remember about dying", to keep in mind how death relates to Christian living. Death is no longer as immediate and familiar as it was even in the late 19th c., but I learned most about such things from trips to obtain anatomical specimens in autopsy rooms and places like that. You are reminded of them by Max, the natural theologian.
Max, the natural theologian----I love it, LF! Thanks. He certainly has been my teacher. ANd thanks for the reminder about theologies of the past. "Memento mori" is still useful.
Thet pesky kitteh! Maxie is truly one of God's creatures on loan to you from the Universe, isn't he, Rev Kit?
I'll be interested to see what you come up with as well. I've often thought about that very question: what do you stand for if you believe in many paths to salvation/goodness/ getting it right? Is it even possible to say that you stand for something? I feel like I do, even if I don't say "me and God" or "me and Allah" or "me and Buddha", but that could just as easily be countered with "look, pick a side, this is theology, not a buffet."
Well, since you are looking for blog post ideas...I'll ask out of desperation.
I am currently applying for seminary (M.Div programs) and have re-written my personal statement eight or nine times and still think I need to start over from scratch.
I want to run to every minister I know, email every minister or seminary student whose blogs I read, and ask one question: How do you even begin to articulate "the call."
Maybe it would only apply to me (guess I should email people LOL), but if you ever feel like blogging on that, go right ahead. I the meantime, I am going to try to get some sleep for once this week.
Thanks, Pixie, stay tuned.
And Masasa, I will give that some thought. Today's writing will be on the sermon but writing about "the call" is a provocative idea.
Post a Comment