Category Archives: Faith

Catching Up: It’s June???? Edition

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I can’t believe it’s June…

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[+] Decent pajama bottoms. These are completely rock my world. They’re short enough for me (5’1″ish with a freakishly low inseam), and they make me feel cute. I’d live in them if I could.

[+] Yarn goodness. My evening wind down activity has been crocheting things for different people and causes. I get yarn from Herrschners.Com or I check Amazon for some. I’ve put together a baby blanket and several prayer shawls with a few shawls waiting to be edged and two baby blankets in process.

[+] End of an Era. My priest had his last Sunday on the 8th. He was with us starting in January 2019, which means he got to go through the pandemic with us. His last service was a bilingual one with one of the diocesan staff present, his kids there (who all live far away, Aztec dancers doing the prelude and postlude, and a massive potluck with tamales, mole, a bunch of Oaxacan cuisine I can’t remember, and the standard white American potluck foods.

Habemus Papa

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I didn’t read any of the “Who Will Be the Next Pope” articles because the Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways, and being on those lists isn’t a guarantee. (Case-in-point: JPII wasn’t on any of those going into the conclave that elected him.) I tuned into the procession into the Sistine Chapel yesterday when an Orthodox Jewish friend clued me into it happening. I’ve got to say that it was something interesting to listen to while cat-napping. Beautiful chant and fun to listen to cardinals making the oath on the Gospel book in Latin. Cardinals Dolan and Cupich apparently speak Latin with a flat Midwestern accent, which sounded very different than cardinals who spoke Romance languages sounded.

So am I happy with the selection of Prevost? VERY! My prayers for the new Pope were “someone more similar to Pope Francis” and “NOT RAYMOND BURKE”. I got both wishes. 🙂 All I knew going into this was that Prevost existed, and everything I read about him only made me happier. He speaks multiple languages, has spent time in the Global South, is very justice-oriented, etc.

I know there are some who are going to claim that I like him because of his criticism of Trump and Vance, and that’s not true. The Pope’s criticism of them is expected… because all of his criticism is based on their actions and words being against the words of Jesus in the Gospels. Still, I was way too amused when I saw this on Facebook:

(I do enjoy a good trolling after all.)

in any case, I’m super happy for my Catholic friends. The Holy Spirit came through clutch today, and you seem to have a good leader. 🙂

Pope Francis

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AP News: Pope Francis dies at 88

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant, Francis. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

On Love…

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This became kind of a tradition in 2012, and I think posting it yearly came out of a conversation with my friend Mandi. In any case, here are some words on love from 1 Corinthians 13 in the NRSV version of the Bible.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Turning Down the Heat

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From the blog of my Episcopal priest Fr. Paul:

I just cranked the heat up in my office today. Outside it’s in the low 50’s and I was chilly. Then I signed into my computer and checked the news. All of a sudden, the room felt hot.

This is the last week before the election, and polls show a wildly varied scenario of potential outcomes. Everybody is anxious. This is par for the course. This time around, however, there is a real threat of violence. There are people who believe that if their candidate does not win the election, violence to put them in the White House by force would be justified. Vulnerable people will be targeted. I am opening up my church as a sanctuary.

My Christian faith teaches me that the world is saved by dying, not by fighting, by serving, not by forcing, by giving rather than taking, and by loving rather than hating.

Dear fellow human beings, it’s high time to turn down the heat!

Catching Up: New Year’s Eve 2023 Edition

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Wow. Where to start…

[+] Offline. Both of my parents have had health issues in the last 6 weeks with my dad actually being in the hospital for a couple of days at one point. I voluntold my brother to help me with stockings, and I think we did a good job? It’s been stressy to say the least.

[+] Snow. We finally got hit by a snowstorm in Mount Vernon with all the other storms bypassing us. We only got 5-6 inches at our house, but Bellingham got a foot or more of it. Seattle iced over, and TikTok was full of videos of people attempting to drive in it. I did something to my right hand (which is my seriously dominant hand) shoveling and clearing paths, and it’s getting aggravated almost daily because I can’t not use it.

[+] Wow. I found out that my Aunt Muggs passed away yesterday at age 104. She had been a widow for 31 years, so I think she was probably happy to be reunited with her husband. I only met him twice before he passed away, but they were very positive memories. I’ve been keeping up with Muggs through Christmas cards for years, and my parents used to go visit her when they’d be up in Washington visiting my grandma. They went to her 100th birthday 4 1/2 years ago, and I started getting to know her granddaughter who is around my age this year. She was my paternal grandmother’s sister, and she was the last of that generation left on both sides of my family. It’s 3 1/2-4 hours to where she lives on roads that are probably still snowy, so we most likely won’t make her funeral mass.

[+] Word of the Year. I did Jen Fulwiler’s Word of the Year generator and got steadfast. Given that my word for 2020 was “build” and I built a lot of framework for my church to do worship online, I’m kind of nervous about what that means for me this year.

[+] Saint Generator. I did Jen Fulwiler’s Saint’s Name Generator and got Ignatius of Antioch. He’s the patron saint against throat diseases, of the church in the eastern Mediterranean, and the church in North Africa. Does this mean thyroid issues or me bonding with the Coptic church more? Am I going to become Antiochian Orthodox?

[+] Resolutions. I think I’ll work on 2020’s resolutions again.

Catching Up: September 23, 2022 Edition

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It’s the first week of Fall Quarter for me. Whee.

[+] Mary of Steel Magnificat needs a new car. If you’re familiar with her blog, you know that her now-defunct car was the “Neighborhood Trolley” and used not only for her family’s needs, but she also drove people to the grocery store, to the doctor, and to myriad appointments that would have been very difficult (if not impossible) to get to on public transportation. The GoFundMe for her is here. (I can’t donate at the moment, so I’m sharing it.)

[+] Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was flown from Edinburgh to London last week on a RAF Boeing Globemaster C17. The story behind the choice of that plane is beautiful.

This is what leadership looks like.

[+] The services at Westminster Abbey and Windsor Chapel made me happy to be Episcopalian, but what undid me were the pipers. I think the most touching moment was the pipe band playing “The Skye Boat Song” as they were parading behind the hearse to Windsor Chapel. I also loved the two appearances by the Queen’s personal piper.

Between the pipers and the military parade through Central London, I have no doubt my grandpa was geeking out at all of this in heaven. I’m pretty sure the Queen was also pretty happy with everything as well.