Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time!

In lieu of AJO's diagnosis with Hodgkin Lymphoma I've finally been reading Cancer Theology. This book is a collection of essays/reflections on how to theologically think & live with cancer.

At the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza I was naturally drawn to ask more about this book as a cancer survivor myself. Connecting my cancer story (most of my childhood) with God - Father, Son, Spirit - has been a challenge. At the age of 7 all I knew was that God was with me & that was enough. While I still have a few essays to get through, I'm finding a theme of what I will call "returning to the foot of the cross."

Nobody will deny the variety of ups & downs in life. As Christians we are reminded through scripture that all that we are is because of the resurrected Jesus & the sending of the Spirit. God is with us. That is enough. God is with, in, through, & around us. Let's chew on that for a while & enjoy your tea time.

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: It's Sunday & it feels like I'm about to go to a new school for the first time. People are going to want to know how my summer was, but want the short & dirty version, which I'm not sure I'm ready to give. And some people won't even realize I was gone for 2 months. This past week as I was catching up with friends I found myself highlighting different pieces of my summer that I have grown through. I've been blown over by the Holy Spirit & floating somewhere between the clouds & the ground. "Rolling with the Punches" was my motto for this summer & I suppose I still need to go with it for a while longer. It started as my motto because I stepped into an unfamiliar system of ministry & had to find my place in the midst of it all. This included me being more comfortable with saying "I don't know" to MANY things & accepting my authority that my position gave me. So naturally this past week was spent unpacking, cleaning, getting rid of some of the old & making space to breath, wearing clothes I hadn't worn all summer & eating foods I hadn't eaten for a few months, & sleep. Oh how I missed my bed!

BAD: After being slightly off the grid for 2 months you lose track of what's going on in the world. Jumping back on the grid (or almost) & learning about seemingly petty governmental spats between the Republicans & Democrats is ugly. All the while other political unrest in places like Eastern Europe & Middle East are are getting enough attention to make people even like me a little uneasy. Mostly uneasy though because I am uneducated on what is going on without sitting down & reading news articles.

AWESOME: The singing camel in my picture from the county fair is awesome! The other day Z & I went to his first ever county fair - nothing compares to the MN State Fair - & enjoyed an elephant ear & a ride on the Ferris-wheel.

WORD: Recently I've been reading Cancer Theology & liking some articles more than others. Also, I've been dwelling in the devotions written by a colleague for God Pause.

coming up: More making space & projects around the house. Woohoo!