Yet Another Reason I Love My Church Family

It's true--church families can be messy and frustrating at times. But there are also lots of reasons to love them. Here's one...

On Thursday night we had a worship planning meeting at my house because Marcus is travelling for work. My plan was to set up Nora with a DVD so that she would be occupied while we met (and maybe, just maybe, fall asleep). But I didn't want her to be all the way down in the basement family room where we keep the TV while we met upstairs, so I decided to move the TV to my room (a brilliant idea when you are 8+ months pregnant). So I get the TV upstairs and set it down on the bed so I can move stuff off the dresser, and just as I turn around it rolls off the bed and lands with a loud crash on the floor. Luckily there wasn't any broken glass and it didn't land on anyone's foot, but as I turned it over I heard the sickening sound of broken pieces inside. So now Nora is hysterical (because it scared the daylights out of both of us, and because she really wanted to watch TV) and it's 45 minutes before people are supposed to arrive for the meeting and I am wondering what the heck I am going to do. I decided to run up to the church and borrow the TV from the youth room (so I ended up hauling yet another TV down two flights of stairs like an idiot) and I got it home and set up before everyone came over and Nora was completely happy, but I was frazzled.

After the meeting I shared this story with a couple of people, Randy and Rebecca, because I knew that I was going to have to tell Marcus when he called and I was dreading that. They were supportive and assured me that Marcus would be OK--which he was, mostly. The next day I told the story to one other person at church, Ed, who I thought might have an idea where I could get another used TV cheap. Ed said that he would be on the look out for me. Less than an hour later I got a call from Rebecca who told me that she and her husband were planning to buy a new TV this weekend anyway, and would I like to have their old one. Then this morning I got a call from yet another person, Jerry, who had talked to Ed and he had a TV that he wanted to bring over to me, which I gratefully declined. Then I told this story to Marie who said that if we still needed one, she had one we could have!

This is just one great example of the love that church people have for one another most of the time. If you need something--friendship, support, prayers, food, or even a TV--the church family is a good place to go because, in their hearts, people are kind, generous, and loving.

Thanks everybody!

Blogging Makes Good Company

You'll never guess who else has a blog...

That's right. Screech, the mascot for the Washington Nationals Baseball Team. So now my new goal is to post more frequently than Screech. But the question is: whose blog would Nora rather read?

Rabble-Rouser for Peace

Last night a group of us from Woodside went to the National Cathedral to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak on the Spirituality of Reconciliation. I had the privilege of taking a class with Archbishop Tutu when I was in seminary at Emory University, so I knew how wonderful he is and I was excited to share that experience with others. He continues to amaze me with his wisdom, his humor and the depth of his faith which leads him to believe (in spite of all the horrors in this world, including the ones that he has witnessed in South Africa) that human beings are inherently good and made in the image of God. You can watch his whole speech on the National Cathedral website, but here are some of my favorite quotes from last night (with a little paraphasing):

The heart of the Christian gospel isn't love...it is reconciliation.

Are there some things that are unforgivable? Yes...on a human level. But we are created in the image of God and called to be God's moral agents in the world...to strive to be perfectly loving as God is perfectly loving.

God never gives up on us. When we fall down, God picks us up, dusts us off and says, "Try again."

You have the power to be a saint...go for it, dude!