It was my birthday. My mom invited Sarah and me to get in the car, as she started driving several miles west of the family farm. We pulled in a driveway of a home I had never been, and there was this litter of puppies (“The cutest ones ever!” as we humans automatically believe when approaching such a bundle of precious new life.). My mom pointed at this one English chocolate lab, and said, “She’s yours.” That was a bit of a shock for me. I had just graduated from seminary, about to start the first call with a congregation in Michigan, but I guess I didn’t know I was ready for that kind of adulting just yet, having to be directly responsible for any part of a bundle of new life. Regardless, there was always a dog around during my growing-up years, most of which I got a little more emotionally attached to being the youngest of four, as my older siblings grew up and had to move onto the adulting stage. So, my mom must have thought I needed one around for myself.
For many of us computer users, when we first turn on our device, we are met with a random image before we type in our password to go on about our work (or complete and utter waste of time for many instances). We are also given an option to click our approval or disapproval with the picture. In this day in age of needing to be aware of how much personal information we share with whomever on the other end, it may not be the best idea that I take time to share my opinion of the selected visual taking over the initial screen each time. Nevertheless, I do, and Microsoft (or whoever it is) has caught on: I like, I adore, I’m captivated by Creation.
My parents were more AM radio frequency listeners, switching between 610 WTVN and 1460 WBNS, both out of Columbus, for “the rest of the story” from Paul Harvey and sports updates respectively. My friends, on the other hand, could quote AC/DC, Metallica and others, no problem. They listened to the FM end of things all the time and would buy some of the latest musical CDs and dive into the then-newest technology of Napster, where you could download songs digitally, beginning a whole new age for the industry. Regardless, I didn’t grow up with much of any of that playing in the car or at home, let alone going to an actual concert.
We really wanted to hit it out of the park with this particular “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday. We had done some collections and fundraisers in previous years of the Sunday after Labor Day ministry celebration for our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), but something more hands-on and experiential usually hits the spiritual spot a bit more. We had been supporting a local foster organization over the years, so we wondered about maybe bringing that to the forefront as we tried to do our part in bringing our wider church’s motto to realer life.
As we try this new mid-week blog, it’s always the cool thing to make a little alliteration work with whatever day it’s meant to be published. Our Northeastern Ohio Synod Bishop Laura Barbins has her “Thursday Thoughts.” Our previous Bishop Abraham Allende had his “Monday Musings.” For our setup, we’re tentatively planning to simply upload this to our website in time for a “Wednesday Wandering.” At first, I was hesitant to go with that title, because some definitions have some not overly positive connotations with wandering. Nevertheless, I like one of Merriam Webster’s online options: “to follow a winding course.” I feel like that’s rather perfect for our journey with Christ, among other things. It isn’t so straightforward, to say the least. It is an ever-“winding course,” to be sure. So, here we go:
