Daily Connector | God cares, God is here | Linda Mercadante
I’m not very good at spiritual platitudes. If that’s what you’re looking for today, I’m sorry but I’m not your girl. Being raised in a rough city, with one Jewish and one Italian Catholic immigrant parent, I was early aware of the dark side of life. Religion wasn’t practiced in my home, but I did hear a lot about anti-Semitism and the Nazi Holocaust. When I heard the Gospel, I knew immediately that it was good news. But I saw Christianity was also realistic about evil. Just the switch in people’s reaction to Jesus – on Palm Sunday it was “We love you, man” and then just few days later “Let’s kill him” – was enough to convince me that life is not all rosy. The mystery of God’s presence and promises in the midst of that was the key. My year has been a real upheaval since June –
Daily Connector | Music for my soul | Tom Blosser
Music has been an emotional and spiritual ministration and outlet for me for as long as I can remember. As a young child I remember hearing my mom play piano and seeing the quiet joy in her face and in her being. As a shy adolescent, music was a virtual sanctuary, something I could experience that made no demands on me to have the right words or exude an engaging charisma. That relationship with music has continued throughout my adulthood, providing a balm during grief, a means of expressing and celebrating inner joy, and a quieting place for my anxious soul. During the recent weeks of isolation and social distancing, music has continued to be my companion and an outlet for expressing feelings I can’t otherwise articulate. On a recent walk, I witnessed a “porch concert”, something I’d heard was happening, but hadn’t yet witnessed. I relished the connection it
Daily Connector | For you are forever | Sarah Werner
Expressions of gratitude are something that I see a lot more of on Facebook these days. A few of my friends post from their gratitude journals each day, reminders of the small things they are grateful for—bluebonnets (a Texas luxury seen on every roadside in April), creative smiling children, an early harvest of leafy greens. Texas Bluebonnets Indian Paintbrush from Texas It’s hard for me to pry my eyes away from the news of death and sickness, and the fear for what is to come in the rest of
Daily Connector | Flavorful open table | Becca Rossiter Lachman
One of the many strange layers Michael and I find ourselves living into right now is the fact we aren’t in the minority anymore when listening in to CMC services from afar… Even though I’m working from home and we’re trying to stay on our property as much as possible—walking/jogging in the old cemetery across the street, documenting the creatures and plants in our urban woods, listening to peepers in our spring at night. When Sunday rolls around, my spirit’s longing for shared connection and a real-deal Sabbath from news. I joked with my mom recently that it feels like I’m practicing some version of “Amish church” in this season, because I find myself listening in to 3-4 services throughout my Sunday while making lots of food. “Church” has become an all-day practice of listening, learning, and trying my best to soften whatever anxiety, anger, or fear has
Daily Connector | An intensified quality to gratefulness | Ryan Hoke
I know the stories I tell myself matter. Reality is one thing and then the meaning I make often miles away from that reality. Our little family (working parents, three kids–five, two, and six weeks old) went from a full life of schedule, routine (school, work, daycare, weekends, repeat) to something very different. There was and is a loss there. A loss of control, a loss of rhythm and predictability, a grieving over my preferences. When I’m at my best I’m present, open, experiencing life for what it is as it’s happening. When I’m not, when my mind gets humming with stories–about the strangeness, the unfairness, the suddenness, the chaos, the fears, the burdens, and on, and on, and on–it can be easy to miss what is actually unfolding right in front of me. The actual moments where things are totally fine. Where both the events in front of me
