Uncategorized – Page 2 – Alicia Writes

Advent 2020

I love Advent.
Even more than Christmas, I adore Advent. It is the preparations, I like. I’ve always been one a little more comfortable living in the future than in the moment. So often, growing up, big events were a bit of a let down.
Christmas always feels that way to me.

I’ve even extended our family’s experience of Christmas by celebrating for all 12 days of the feast. But still… by the end, it’s January of a new year and everyone is back at work and school and often, it feels like nothing has changed. The hope and peace and love and joy of Christmas has dissipated with the chilly wind. In its place are resolutions we know we won’t keep, bills, clean up, and disillusionment.

But Advent is December. The house is slowly transformed with romantic Christmas lights, candles, bows, and tinsel. It smells of cinnamon and fir trees and chocolate.

Our family, and even our culture, prioritizes togetherness, connection, generosity, and gratitude in these winter holidays. Ironically, the stress of the season is rooted in the desire to do all the good things in a single month instead of all year long.

I mean, it does also expose the harsh realities that many are homeless, that American capitalism is crushing working families, and loneliness lingers and lurks in the glow of the lights. Crime goes up and tempers flare as our expectations and longings are exposed. We are made raw by the waiting and wanting. We are led astray by the temptations of secular Christmas. We confuse indulgence and wealth with abundance. We mistake parties and presents with joy.

But this time of year, we are made so aware of our deepest longing for the righteousness and justice and overwhelming love of God. We crave the hospitality and fellowship of the Spirit manifest among us. We long for the freedom of Christ from our painful lies and devastating habits. We wearily search for the pasture of abundance of God’s Kingdom that truly nourishes.

The work of Advent is to see more clearly what we need and what is enough.

This Advent I wonder what I am preparing for.

Christmas won’t be that different from what life has been all year. What do I need to make it special? Will sameness be enough?

I keep thinking about the incarcerated. My life is mostly about caring for my kids and husband. Taking care of the house, our hamster, making sure everyone is fed and the place is cleaned regularly. I serve as the Coordinator of our local MOPS group. I pray for my leaders and try to train and provide them with resources and support to care for the women in their groups. MOPS was such a blessing to me when my kids were younger. I wanted to pass on that blessing. The restrictions on large group gatherings has made it difficult, but I am doing my best. I just don’t feel very connected to it, to them. I love them. I care about them. But something is missing. And come this May, my service as Coordinator is over. Then what? How will I work? Who will I serve? What will I do? So I think about the incarcerated.

I wonder if my growing attention to those in jail is from God or not. I have no connection to anyone incarcerated. I have no particular skills or qualities or education or experience that would make me of any value to captives. Why should I care about them? How should I care? I discovered there are sites to be a penpal for “someone on the inside.” I could become a great letter-writer, offer connection and friendship to someone who is alone and forgotten, but I also know I am inconsistent, at best, as a writer. Or as a friend. So I wonder, why do I think about them? I don’t actually know them. But I also wonder, do I need to understand before taking the first step? I hesitate because I don’t want to harm someone already on the fringes of society. I hesitate because I am first praying for clarity and for faith.

I am preparing for Christmas, the birth of God into the world as a fragile baby. I prepare to be known and loved, to be a co-collaborator in God’s purposes in the world.

A Sermon on Authority in the Bible

On September 24, 2020, I preached the following sermon for Oakhurst Lutheran Church. The church had both an outside, masked, socially distant service and a second Zoom service. As I prepared the sermon, I focused much of my preparation on how to preach via Zoom. I realize now I would have done things differently if I had considered more the “live” sermon. It was quite the experience trying to communicate the same message using two communication platforms and I needed to respect the differences in those platforms more.

The Zoom worship had supplemental PowerPoint slides. However, the experience of preaching and being unable to see or hear how the hearers respond was unsettling. I couldn’t hear where people may have needed an extra beat of silence or if I needed to stay on a point longer because the message was confusing or misheard. I had to trust that the prayer and preparation and slides worked. Meanwhile, during the live sermon, I realized that I was trying to communicate an awful lot orally without any visual aids!

Sigh.

Live and learn.

It was titled, rather blandly, “Authority & Expectations.”
This Scripture passages for the day were: Exodus 17: 1-7; Psalm 78:1-4; Philippians 2:1-13; and Matthew 21:23-32.

The Sermon:

All of today’s passages deal with authority & expectations. In the both Old Testament story and Gospel passage, the authority of God is questioned. These stories ask:

How do you know someone has authority? What is expected of those with authority? How does God use His authority?

Paul’s Epistle then asks:

What are the responsibilities of those under the authority of God?
And therefore, what are you to do with the authority you have been given?

Authority is rooted in the word “author,” originator, or creator.

Authority means the power or right to give orders, make decisions, enforce obedience. This is the kind of authority we think of when talking about God’s authority. It also means the right to act in a specified way due to official permission and the power to influence others, which is how we might think about Moses’ authority and our own.

Let’s start in the Old Testament. Today’s passage is part of the larger exodus story. The exodus story is the core narrative of the Jewish people. It tells how God acted as the creator of the community and why, therefore, He should be believed, why He should be obeyed, why He should be praised and why His story should be told to the next generation (which is what we see then occurring in Psalm 78). The Genesis stories tell how God created the tribes, and made his covenant promises to do a great thing through them, but the exodus story is how God created the community, the nation, the sense of the people as a people.

Let’s get some context for today’s passage. Where are we in the story of God creating the community?

The passage begins with the people doing as the Lord commanded. It says they, “set out from the Desert of Sin traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.” They have already witnessed the power of God through ten devastating plagues back in Egypt. God has already parted the Red Sea, and has already answered their need for water once back in chapter 15. And He is with them. He sends manna, from heaven, daily. He is a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God is with them. In the New Testament, we have a special name for the “with-us-God” — Emmanuel. You know what hasn’t happened yet? They have no Law. No Ten Commandments. No kosher food rules. The legal system that will govern their life as the special people of God isn’t a part of the story yet. Even here, in the heart of the Old Testament, God’s grace and God’s presence and provision precedes His Law.

God is authoring this community. He is leading them by doing mighty acts of power. So, what, in today’s passage, tells us what is expected of those in authority? How does God use his authority?

The people have followed him out of Egypt. They are no longer enslaved, but they are by no means self-sufficient. In fact, they are fully dependent on God for food, water, shelter, guidance, and protection. The mighty acts of yesterday don’t stop them from worrying, complaining, questioning, and even threatening because of the problems of today. This is actually pretty astounding. Not because we know how the story ends, but because, in those days, you didn’t demand miracles from the divine. Or, if you did, you at least sacrificed your best bull or ram when doing it. But they have a different kind of God. One who speaks directly to them and doesn’t demand payment. Prayer really is a gift of immeasurable value.

Anyway, the Israelites are desperate – a very basic need is not being met, so they go to Moses, and Moses goes to God, “What am I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” They need a miracle. But can they really expect the divine to hear them and to help them? In this passage, even though they are irritating and frustrating their leaders, the answer is yes, they are listened to and their needs are met, even if it means getting water out of rocks in a desert. Again.

Notice, though, that God gives authority to Moses.

In fact, God works through Moses most of the time when exercising of His power. Moses, authorized by God, confronts the oppressive leadership of the Pharaoh. Moses lifts his staff over the Red Sea and then God parts it. Moses talked with God for the people, and then God sent manna from heaven. Moses is the co-collaborator in this miracle, too. He goes ahead of the people with the elders and strikes the rock, as God commanded. Moses acts as an exemplar for us. He speaks to God about the needs of his community. He then listens to and obeys God. Through Moses’ prayer and obedience to God, God mighty act of power is manifest. We know Moses has authority not because of what he said, but because of what he did. God worked through him to do amazing things, wondrous acts to save, to love his people. The story helps build the foundation that what we expect of God and of those authorized by God is to listen to those in need, even if we’re irritating and have no fatted ram.

So the Old Testament answers the questions this way:

How do you know someone has authority?

Because they do acts of power.

What is expected of those with authority?

To use their power to meet the needs of the people, to listen and care for those they who depend on them.

How does God use His authority?

God uses His awesome power to work with humans to create community, to lead people out of oppression, and to answer the requests and complaints of His people, to be in relationship with them. He journeys with them through life.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus’ authority is also being questioned.

This questioning comes after his final entry to Jerusalem. Jesus has spent 3 years teaching, healing, casting out demons, forgiving sins, blessing children, even raised a couple people from the dead. In this scene, he is again at the temple teaching.

The religious leaders say, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” He responds by asking about John. Was John’s acts and teachings just his own, or did John the Baptist act with the authority of the divine? When they admit they don’t know, Jesus refuses to answer their question about his authority since they apparently can’t discern divine authority – when God is at work. If they can’t discern that John was prophet from God, how could they possibly understand the authority Jesus held?

Their teachings and leadership have come from their studies with former rabbis. Their authority came from traditions rooted in the Torah – the knowledge of what God had done in the past. Jesus’ power, meanwhile, is in the present work of God and the coming Kingdom of God – what God is doing and will do. It is by “these things,” the mighty acts of power – chasing out the money lenders, feeding the multitudes, cleansing the leper, restoring sight to the blind – that he reveals, just like in the Old Testament, his authority and power comes from God.

He then tells a parable about two sons, one says he’ll work and then doesn’t, the other says he won’t work and then does. Jesus says the point of the story is that tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of God before the chief priests! Why? In the parable, it doesn’t matter what the sons say, but what they do. Not that we should aspire to be tax collectors and prostitutes, but to be sinners who change our minds to do as God asks of us. Jesus doesn’t say the chief priests won’t enter the Kingdom of God, but implies that by believing John and believing Jesus, by changing their mind and doing the work the Father sent them to do now, they enter the Kingdom of God before the chief priests.

So what are the responsibilities of those who are under the authority of God? What is the work the Father sends us to do in the vineyard?

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, says, look at Jesus.

Jesus had equal authority with God, the Father, but he became fully human, fully under the authority of God. Look at how he used God’s authority when he was fully human. He listened to God and obeyed God. The Father gave him the wisdom, strength, and power, God’s immensely gracious love that Jesus used to be comfortable and delighted to eat with sinners, to work miracles for the destitute, and redeem those who refused him, betrayed him, questioned him by death on a cross. He loved even when it meant loving his enemies sacrificially. He healed people and fed them. He calmed anxieties and challenged all forms of oppression.

Paul writes, “in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” Meaning a church is a community because of Christ. Jesus is the author of the church. We are empowered, authorized by Jesus, through the Spirit to do this will of God.

If we are the church of God, then we are bound to God and to one another through this Spirit. And the Spirit authorizes, empowers, and expects us to look out for the interests of others.

As followers of Christ, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, family, we are capable of sharing the same fellowship Jesus had with the Father, the same love God has for all his creation. The Spirit of God speaks to us and gives us opportunities to change our mind for the mind of Jesus. To see others how God sees them. To humble ourselves like Jesus did because we know we won’t be forgotten. We can fight against the oppression of others near and far with every gift God has given us because it is why we have been given those gifts. We can confess and talk about how God loved us, loves us still, and is still working in us to root out the sins and lies that frighten and trouble and weaken us. When we listen and obey the Spirit of God who dwells within us, we, too, are co-collaborators with God, who does mighty things in us and through us.

As Christians, our access to the authority and power of God cannot be separated from the responsibility to use our authority and power to serve God’s will, by loving and providing for God’s people.

You, with the Spirit, must daily, hourly even, answer together the final question: what are you to do with the authority you have been given? How is God calling you to use the love of God?

May you hear the voice of Jesus through God’s own Spirit. May it energize you and bring you peace.

To India, With Love: Homecoming

When we got home from India, Pastor Cindy encouraged us to write a letter to ourselves about what we want to remember from the trip. She asked: what do you want to remember from this trip? What did God show you or what lessons was God teaching you? How might God be calling you to respond?

I wrote the letter on December 11, 2019 and I just received it from Cindy this week (September 9, 2020).

To India, With Love: Caden’s Update

Caden: On my trip so far, we have now seen two boys’ homes and one girls’ home. We are going to northern India on Friday. At two of the homes, we did VBS. At the first home, something that was interesting was that they gave us fabric flowers. We played a circle game with a ball. On Sunday, we went to a very big church service which was 6 hours long. At one point during the service, for me it was very brave to be around a lot of girls that were much older than me. I was with one group of 30 girls and another group of 10 girls. We got to sit up in front of many children. I think there were about 300 kids. I got to speak in front of all the children. I told them my favorite Bible story was about Christ being born. The reason why it’s my favorite Bible story is because it talks about Jesus coming to earth.

On Monday, we saw the other boys’ home. We had a lot fun with them. We did VBS with them. First, at the home, we played a bouncing game where when you bounced the ball to somebody you had to say what the leader says, like food or animals or your name. Also, we acted out the story of Jesus calming the storm. We did the same thing at the girls’ home, but at the boys’ home, the second time, they got to do it with us.

On Tuesday, we saw a group of 10 girls and some other homes came, too. We saw a few of the homes do dances together. We saw the 10 girls and, at the end, we did VBS stations. My favorite station was the parachute games. I liked them because one game was about Jesus calming the storm. We wiggled it a little at the start and then harder when the storm came. The other game was about getting the ball to one side, but one time, somebody kicked the ball and it went all the way down to the ground and somebody else had to throw it back up to the roof.

During the 6 hour church service, a very special part of the service was outside. The flowers were given to us when we arrived.

Some of the boys we met on Saturday were also at the Sunday church service. It was great to see them again!

We had so much fun with this family. This is the second boys’ home we visited.

The girls dressed their best for our super special day together.

Many village kids came to do VBS with us. Caden & William has this group of boys to go to the VBS stations – making crafts, coloring, parachute games.

To India, With Love: Arriving

We made it! We flew Emirates Airlines and had a layover in Dubai. We landed in Hyderabad, India around 2:45am and spent a solid hour in immigration. Overall, our trip has been smooth so far. The flights were pleasant, with good food and good seat neighbors. Our first flight was on an Airbus 380. It was huge and very nice. The staff were kind, the food delicious, the seats roomy, the entertainment options plentiful, and our seat neighbors lovely. Blessings on Marie for her many kindnesses to Caden & I on our first flight.

I apologize if the pictures are misaligned. My internet connection and speed is unpredictable. I’m trying to fix them, but the edits don’t seem to stick. Oh well. Our hotel is nice. We arrived at 5am, got cleaned up and took a nap. We’ve had some breakfast (with some AMAZING coffee) and will meet up with the team in the afternoon to tour the town a bit.

Caden’s Update: So far on this trip, we have taken a 15 hour flight and a 3 hour flight. Also, we were given meals about every 3 hours. On the flights, I did schoolwork and played video games. My favorite game was called Invasion because you got a ship to fight weird monsters. I liked getting power-ups for the ship and I really liked the desserts on the plane rides.

On our Emirates flight to Dubai. Then on to Hyderabad.

Look what we found in Dubai! Taken with Caden’s new camera. 🙂

We made it to India! The whole team and all our stuff. Check out our sweet ride!!!

Breakfast: butter idly – like a rice flour “pancake” with chutneys and dipping sauces
I’m not even sure what I ate, but it was delicious. Also, I’m in love with the coffee. This fantastic traveler mostly ate toast, and loved the warm, sweet milk they brought him.

Ready…Set…Here We Go!

We began planning this trip in January and it’s finally here. Thankfully, my 4am wakings mulling over the thousands of little details and final arrangements only began last week. I’ll sleep on the plane, right?

Everyone says this will be a life-changing trip for Caden and me. I’m sure everyone is right. I wonder how, though. I know I want Caden’s world to break open. I want him to see diversity and beauty and poverty and God. He’s an amazing boy – kind, generous, intelligent, serious, loving. How will this experience affect him, change him? Will he become more aware of God in his life or struggle with homesickness? I have no idea. So, if you’re the praying kind, please pray for his faith, as well as his health and safety.

As for me, I’ll admit to having a pretty big blind spot about how this trip will affect me. I’m not sure what I’m hoping will happen, what my expectations are. Will this cross-cultural experience create in me a deep and lasting love for India? Will I come home with renewed purpose in life or exhausted from processing so many new sights, sounds, smells, and people? We can’t control the effects, the ending. We can only be present and be kind. This will be a practice in being flexible, patient, vulnerable, curious, open to new things and letting go of any discomfort we may encounter.

We have pictures and names of some of the people we will meet. As I have prayed for them these past few months, a deep desire to meet them and hear their voice tell their story and share their music has grown in me. My heart for the wives/moms has grown particularly. We may not know what will happen next, but I have already learned that praying regularly for people binds our hearts to one another. No wonder we say that prayer is a gift.

Here’s a picture of the team! (I was singing at another location so I couldn’t be there.)

Twin Idols

I’ve been thinking a lot about the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called “Night Terrors.” In it, the Enterprise travels to a binary star system – where two stars orbit around a common center. They find another ship adrift; its crew deceased, save one who is catatonic. The ship’s systems all appear normal, except it won’t function. The Enterprise discovers they, too, cannot leave the binary star system and what happened to the crew of the other ship appears to be happening to them. They are slowly going insane due to a lack of REM sleep.

Meanwhile, the ship’s counselor, Deanna Troi, a Betazoid, can sleep, but she only has a recurring nightmare. A voice calls to her again and again, saying,

“Two eyes in the night. One moon circles them.”

I started writing almost a year ago hoping to record how God would transform my relationship with money. The end of the summer brought with it a reminder that I have a food problem, too. I weigh more now than I did last year. Not a lot, but enough. My clothes fit more snugly. My energy is lower. I feel out of control. It is the natural consequence of saying yes to more too many times, and regularly ignoring my body’s messages of enough. It’s not helped by a busy schedule that often results in mindless eating and poor choices. I mean, who can say no to free food or food someone else prepared?

I have dreams of creating a Weight Watchers-like program for money. Food and money feel like addictions from which I can’t abstain. My world is saturated with messages about food and money, immersed in consumerism, capitalism, materialism, marketing – a culture of indulgence, a celebration of excess, a plethora of choices replete with shame for having fallen for any of it. My husband navigates these realities with ease. I don’t. I indulge until I over-indulge. I binge and then purge. I am permissive and then punitive. I have to work to keep these necessities working for good and uncorrupted. These are my two stars in a binary system. The problem isn’t food or money. It’s something else that keeps me trapped, orbiting these two stars.

In the “Night Terrors” episode, the crew discovers they are adrift, like the other ship, because they are caught in a Tyken’s Rift – a massive rupture in space into which energy is absorbed. Note: there’s no such thing as a Tyken’s Rift, but naming an invisible brokenness in the fabric of reality into which energy goes but no progress toward freedom feels…really familiar. They determine that a massive energy release could overload and dislocate the anomaly, but the Enterprise didn’t have enough materials or energy to create such an explosion. Y’all, same.

The Enterprise and Counselor Troi happily find their solution in time to avoid everyone going insane. I still can’t even name my Tyken’s Rift. It’s easy to blame culture or media or genetics. It’s tempting to feel shame because I never seem to “learn my lesson” and maintain control. This is my work. And I still trust God will transform me.

Autumn 2019

This summer was beautiful. It might go down as one of my favorites.

I was worried at the start that giving up my role as a piano teacher to be home with the kids full-time would leave me feeling unfulfilled and anxious. It was a glorious summer season.

There were play dates and picnics and popsicles. We saw Toy Story 4 at a drive-in movie theater. We took a trip to the Los Angeles Zoo. During water week, we went to a splash pad, enjoyed our backyard water table, went to the Aquarium and the beach, and had a play date at a pool. The kids enjoyed a week-long science & art camp at Kidspace Museum and we all loved our week of Vacation Bible School at church. I arranged a museum week during which we went to the Natural History Museum, the Skirball Center, and the Norton Simon – the kids’ first art museum! I recall an epic meltdown leaving the Skirball Center. We did a science experiment to test household cleaners and Caden learned to cook eggs. He continues to perfect his over easy egg. The best part was our two week vacation in July. We visited family, went to the Oakland zoo, loved church camp, took a train through a redwood forest, relished our time with friends, fed llamas, and swam and swam and swam in Bass Lake. It was a time of play and rejuvenation and laughter and peace.

I marveled at how well the kids played together. There were definitely fights and time outs, but I was delighted to see how often they wanted to play together and how good they got at negotiating and pretend.

Image by santiagotorrescl95 from Pixabay

The weather is still hot, but the season has shifted. The kids are back in school. I’m serving as a leader in our local MOPS group and volunteering with our church’s Stephen Ministry, promoting next year’s All Church Camp, and getting ready for our mission/vision trip to India in November.

I have more time to myself now, and, predictably, I’m not sure what to do with it.

It’s been so rewarding planning for MOPS and serving at church. I’ve felt useful and competent in ways I haven’t been in years. I get to be more of me these days. I’m still parenting and cleaning and cooking, but I get to do event planning, critical thinking, teaching, team-building, promoting, and community empowerment.

So here I am writing. Reflecting. Because I also have these twin idols of my life – money and food. My personal reminders that good things can be corrupted by brokenness and some lessons are never learned. Some things aren’t problems to be solved, skills to be mastered, or goals to be completed. These things are work. Work is good and there is work to do this season.

Time apart at church camp

We’re in the middle of our summer family vacation. We visited family – brothers and sisters to me via marriage and cousins for our kids. We went to the zoo and the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory and a neighborhood pool. We played Toy Story yahtzee and t-ball and hide-and-seek. There was an epic Nerf gun fight and a water balloon war. It was a time to reconnect — to discover what beloved family is working on, regretting, dreaming. I’m grateful I enjoy my in-laws as much as I do. They are quick-witted, smart, creative and thoughtful. I wish I felt more connected to them. They have all had siblings since childhood – relationships built on love, experience, conflict and its sisters forgiveness and acceptance. With my late start, I must be contented our relationship grows despite, or perhaps, thanks to time and distance.

Now it is church camp. A week in the forest with our church family. I don’t even know where my son is right now. Time moves slowly here and lingers.

Three questions permeate our time. What do we hope God will do with this time we’ve set aside? For me, this time apart is a time to rest. Perhaps to sleep, but, more importantly to rest. A season to be still, to read, to sing, to chat, to laugh, to watch the trees sway in the wind and listen to the birds and insects. To breathe deeply.

The lure of the world to rest efficiently and “get a head start” on a new goal, a new problem, a new want tempts me. This time will end. Battles will come, ready or not. So right now, my goal is to get better at spending time resting in Jesus. To listen for His voice and enjoy His creation. To breathe in grace and breathe out gratitude. To accomplish nothing but savoring His great gifts.

We read Luke 13: 10-17. Jesus cures a woman who had been suffering for 18 years. In response, the synagogue leaders chastised the group, while the people “delighted in the wonderful things he was doing.” In prayer, I found my second question: what is God doing? How can I delight in the Lord if I don’t know what wonderful things the Lord is doing? It would be nice if questions came with answers, but answers, like healing, take time.

Our speaker is talking about the Kingdom of God, and living in the tension of being in Christ and in our local towns. If Christ reigns, then he rules in our hearts and the whole of our lives as well as the public sphere. Our third question: How do we live in the tension of being about Christ’s kingdom – justice, mercy, love, dependence on God, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, humility – in our town which values self-sufficiency, success, comfort and ease, striving, and money?

I ponder these questions in a time apart because they will need to be lived out in a time together.

Summer Morning Thoughts

The story of the healing of the bleeding woman and the synagogue leader’s daughter has been popping up a lot recently. I wonder why. I had forgotten the two healings were related in time. The bleeding woman touches Jesus while he is on his way to heal the leader’s daughter. Both healings came through touch and through faith. The bleeding woman thought, if I just touch his cloak then I’ll be well. The synagogue leader, Jairus, says, “come and lay your hand on her, and she will be well.”

Can you imagine touching him?

Some details vary, but in every retelling, Jesus is mocked for believing the daughter lives, for hoping when hope was lost.

Can you imagine mocking Jesus?

I’ve always marveled at the hemorrhaging woman’s healing. Jesus was in a crowd, clearly being touched and jostled and bumped by many, but he notices her touch. His power to heal was present the entire time, but was accessed by her faith. Not just her belief in her mind, but her bravery at coming to him and touching his cloak. Did this healing bolster Jairus’ faith? Was he worried by the delay or reassured that his faith in Jesus was well placed? The Gospel writers don’t say. They only cared to show Jesus willingness and ability to do what others could not – to heal and forgive, to cure and restore. New life.

Our summer trip begins tomorrow. Two weeks of driving, visiting family and friends, and church camp. Lots of time outside. Lots of togetherness. When we return, there will still be three weeks of summer break, but somehow it feels like it’ll all be over then.

I’ve been preparing for the two ministries I think will take up most of my volunteering time this year. As assistant coordinator for our MOPS group, I’ve been wading through the tonnage of resources. So many videos. I love planning. It feels like creating art – painting the broad strokes of vision and values, gluing each detail, knitting together themes and ideas, snipping loose ends, hammering each detail as if I really control life. The value of MOPS, though, is in the relationships and discussions. I see now the resources are meant to reduce the preparations so we spend more time supporting and encouraging one another. We have to model that as leaders.

I completed the training to become a Stephen Minister, but this weekend also did the training to be a facilitator of supervision groups. I’m now trained to facilitate small groups to provide peer supervision for those who are working with care receivers. I really like Stephen Ministry — the program, the resources, the values, the processes. I’m trying to take some of what they do well and incorporate it into how we do MOPS. Both ministries are about relationships, listening to those in need and walking with one another. I wish I had words to describe how much I love this work.