Tuesday Tea Time!

Hello Tuesday teatime friends! I come to you later in the day today because I'm finally able to wrap my mind around all life happenings both personally & in our world a little bit better at this point in the day.

Life continues to be good & challenging.

I could talk about black lives matter, all lives matter, or gun control. I could talk about the death of a child, the children we hope for, or the children without a home. I could talk about politics & the hilarity & sadness of Stephen Colbert's show at the Republican Party convention.

There's so much that today's teatime could focus on it leaves me without words.

Take time to care for your neighbors. Take time to care for each other. Know that there are only visual differences between the colors & the textures & the labels. We are all humans trying to survive. Be nice. Be kind. Be helpful. Be neighborly. Be love. 

Tuesday Tea Time!

Hello Tuesday Tea Time Friends! It's good to have you here safely, shining like a star with the tutu girl.

In the wake of the Orlando hate crime, I find myself rather speechless. Our gun laws have to change. We have to listen to each other's stories more intently & show respect to each other for the sheer fact that we're all trying to survive this world.

The Gospel lesson I preached on this past weekend was Luke 7:36 - 8:3. The main focus was the faith shared by the strange woman who was in a home where she was not welcomed. The Gospel news of the story is that it is not up to us to choose who is welcome in our world, but it is up to Jesus, our resurrected Lord & Savior. It is ours then to love like the strange woman, no matter who tells us "no," because Jesus tells us "yes."

So love as best you know how. We don't have to understand or see eye to eye, we just have to love.

We weep with those who weep. For Orlando, for Muslims, for LGBTQ, for individual families mourning tragic loss, we weep.

Because we love.

Love in action, being lived out as the verb that it is, will change this world.

In the words of artist Britta Gene, just love.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time, a chance to slow down & breathe deep.

This sort of self-care is necessary when every time you turn on the tv, radio, smartphone, social media of any sort there is another massacre large or small somewhere in someone's life.

In the midst of the world-wide chaos, I choose peace & love. Panic is not worth my time, nor yours, & there is not much many of us can do other than sign petitions, speak out, & pray. If there are things like prayer vigils or peace acts to show up for, we can show up. We can show up in the name of love & peace.

Sure there are things & people I don't like in life, but it is not worth dwelling on those things or I quickly become those things. Often the things we don't like about somebody else & speak outwardly about is really just about ourselves. Life is short & each day is a blessing, so live it large with love & peace.

Some times love is tough love, but it can still be recognized as love. And before loving others we need to know how to love ourselves, so love yourself a little extra today with tea - a warm hug in a cup.

Peace & Love.