As we approach Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday I thought I’d be busier. Holy Week is considered to be a stressful week for pastors. Granted, it’s only Tuesday and the previous weeks have been busier than usual planning and setting up the Walk to the Cross Experience. But I’m finding I have some space to breathe and reflect on the weeks of Lent before cleaning the house for our Easter guests! The word Jeff and I chose to guide us this year is “present.” Usually, I jump in with my interpretation of why God suggested this word to us on January 1! Usually, by the fall I have realized how far off I was in understanding what God wanted to show me with the word of the year! This year I'm taking some time to live with the word before writing about it. So far, I’ve learned that God doesn’t just want me to be more “present” with people in our lives, but to be more “present” with Him as well. Jeff and I chose a Bible study to do together than has a less frantic pace of reading than the previous couple of years. I know I can use more times of solitude—to be “still and know” that God is God and to get reacquainted with myself, so I’ve been working on not working as much. Taking the weeks of Lent to slow down and contemplate the Lord’s Prayer has been such a blessing to me. When I say the prayer now, I am more “present” in the process—I’ve learned to savor it like a piece of good chocolate rather than gobbling it up without even tasting it. I pray that those of you who took the journey with me have learned to be present in the prayer too.
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Pastor CathyPastor Cathy has been appointed to Tyner UMC since July 2019; she also is a part-time writing instructor at Bethel University in Mishawaka. Archives
July 2022
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