03/21/2019
Today is the first day of spring (hallelujah!). I love all the seasons and am always ready for them to change. The first day of spring is always a reminder to me that grooming is to begin for my dog. I love letting her hair grow all fall and winter as she looks like a teddy bear but that does not serve her well when the temperatures rise.
My dog, Ava, went to her groomer yesterday. The groomer is so devoted to dogs and her grooming business. When I tell people about her, I always explain that she is very eccentric--and in a very good way. Outside of her business she dog sits regularly--I cannot imagine how she does it with so many dogs. It seems like over spring break it is nothing for her to be caring for up to a dozen dogs whom she takes home with her every night! In her grooming business, she has a living room setting where the dogs hang out between their grooming sessions. It can be loud but amazingly well controlled. When you meet the groomer, she is a tiny woman who always is dressed with patterns of dogs or the present holiday and her hair is always so neat and creative with braids. She hand makes bandanas for the dogs which relate to the season or holiday of the moment and she sends her clients home with a baggie of dog goodies which always coordinate with the season. I admire her. You clearly know that she loves what she is doing, she is knowledgeable and is passionate. And so I describe her very lovingly as eccentric.
I wonder about our lives as Christians. What would it be like if people described us as eccentric because everything we did and said showed that we do love Jesus, that we clearly know the Word of God as it directs our lives, and people would clearly know when engaged in conversation with us how dedicated we are to God. I know that this is radical thinking but what if…
Ava is no longer a fluffy teddy bear but instead is shaved and skinny but I value those visits to my groomer which make me think.
We live because of the cross and resurrection,
Patti
Archived Posts
One More Piece of Unsolicited Advice
I had one too many examples yesterday. Here’s the "Ask Pastor Tim" scenario that didn’t make the cut for Sunday’s sermon: (read more)
Not If, But When, the Crisis Comes
One of the best Bible commentators alive today is N.T. Wright or Tom Wright. When reflecting on the parable of the wise and foolish maidens, he wrote this:...
What I wanted to say
but ran out of time this Sunday
Here is the benediction I was going to use before discovering the excellent MLK Jr. video.
The Storm that Comes To Us as Helplessness
I want to share with you a small portion of my conversation with Artificial Intelligence online. Some of you know, I use Chat-GPT as a thoughtful sounding board for the questions and insights I’m working with on whatever scriptures I’m studying each week. What follows is an example of those discussions...
One Final Scene About Scrooge
There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years. I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....
What Jacob Marley Would Do,
If He Could Do It…
I thought about using the following for a benediction—since Jacob Marley was warning Scrooge about the danger of loving money and what it could buy. Ends up with the Cantata and everything else going on, I didn’t have the time. So here is what you might have heard if the sermon itself was 5 minutes shorter!
A Confirming Word on Old King Herod
I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23). Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician. When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2. That’s one paranoid dude.